The Ascension Trilogy Book 2:Judgment Day
by Bill K
Summary: Sailor Moon and the senshi must prevent a second ice age from occuring.
1. They Walk The Earth

THE ASCENSION TRILOGY, BOOK TWO: JUDGMENT DAY  
A Sailor Moon Fanfic  
Chapter 1: "They Walk The Earth"  
  
By Bill K.  
-------------------------------------------------  
Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2003 by Naoko Takeuchi/  
Kodansha and Toei Animation and are used without permission, but with   
respect. Story is (c)2003 by Bill Kropfhauser.  
  
As always, for those only familiar with the English dub:  
  
Usagi=Serena  
Ami=Amy  
Rei=Raye  
Makoto=Lita  
Minako=Mina  
Haruka=Amara  
Michiru=Michelle  
Setsuna=Trista  
Mamoru=Darien  
Chibi-Usa=Rini  
  
Finally, Haruka and Michiru are NOT cousins.  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
The apparition moved from Juuban Park with steady deliberation.   
It lumbered and the ground shook as it stepped. It was forty meters   
high and massive. A solid mass of ice given animation, it was a living   
glacier cast in the form of a humanoid. Water vapor condensed around   
it, falling on the area as a cold rain.  
  
"It's headed for the city!" Jupiter gasped. Pushing past her   
fellow senshi, the mistress of electricity took off down the street, her   
objective the park. Quickly the others followed.  
  
"What is that?" Luna demanded as she ran along side Mars' heels.  
  
"It's made of pure ice!" Mercury said as she ran, her visor giving   
her data. "It has a skeletal frame underneath, also made of ice.   
Circulatory system matches general humanoid construction."  
  
"That thing has blood?" Artemis asked.  
  
"Ice water," Mercury corrected him. "What a curious life form.   
It has to be a mystical being, because the physics involved would be   
impossible otherwise."  
  
"Ice water in his veins, huh?" Venus remarked. "Sounds like a   
cool customer."  
  
"And in keeping with the prevailing theme," Mercury added. "Nordic   
myth spoke of a race of beings called Frost Giants that spread cold   
wintry conditions and ruled over those lands."  
  
"Well he's not ruling this land," Jupiter scowled. "And that   
thing's not going to threaten my kids!"  
  
The senshi raced down the street, their movement barely noticed by   
fleeing civilians. As they covered the distance in too slow a time, a   
police car raced past them on its way to the park. Panic was beginning   
to spread like fire through dry leaves. They turned the corner onto the   
street that led to the park. The Frost Giant was even bigger up close,   
impossibly big and imposing.  
  
"Try to keep it contained to the park!" yelled Artemis.  
  
Jupiter took the lead, as she so often did. Racing down the block   
until she was twenty meters from it, Jupiter stopped.  
  
"Jupiter!" Jupiter yelled, "Aurora Cage!"  
  
Volts of electricity sprang from her hands, leaping up at the ice   
monster with great eagerness. The charges linked, weaving themselves   
until they formed an electrical cage around the Frost Giant. The giant   
reacted with puzzlement when confronted by the unfamiliar obstruction.   
It leaned into the mesh of the cage, then pulled back as the mesh   
sizzled and popped at it.  
  
"That's got it so far!" Mars cheered. "Hey, officers! Get   
everyone cleared away! We'll handle this thing!"  
  
The Frost Giant responded with a rumbling, inhuman roar of   
petulant frustration. Hunching its shoulders, the giant pushed against   
the electrical barrier. Where it touched, the mesh sparked and spat   
angrily, showering everyone below with embers as plumes of steam rose up   
from the caged giant.  
  
"It's trying to escape!" Luna shouted.  
  
"Jupiter, can you hold that thing?" Venus asked.  
  
"Trying!" grimaced Jupiter.  
  
With a violent shove, the Frost Giant pierced the electrical   
field. Once sundered, the electric field rapidly dissipated.  
  
"Try this on!" Venus said, eyes twinkling with the thrill of the   
challenge. "Exploding Golden Kiss!"  
  
The force exploded into the chest of the giant, knocking it back a   
step. The giant regained its balance and brought up a hand aimed in the   
direction of Venus.  
  
"Look out!" cried Mercury. "There's an energy build-up around   
that hand! It's going to project something! Everyone scatter!"  
  
The four senshi bolted in opposite directions, instinctively   
knowing where the other would go. The police were not so lucky. The   
two officers were caught in a massive arctic blast that instantly froze   
the water vapor in the air into a thick slab of ice. The car, too, was   
covered by the ice, as was the entrance to the park and the surrounding   
street.   
  
"Oh my word!" Luna gasped. "Mercury, are they still alive?"  
  
Mercury checked her visor. "One of them is dead! The other is   
showing minimal life signs consistent with cryogenic hibernation!"  
  
"Never mind that!" barked Venus. "That thing's on the move!"  
  
The giant stepped out onto Tenth Street, its every step shaking   
the city. Once out onto Tenth Street, the giant began pointing at shops   
in the area. Each building received a massive blast of cold, freezing   
the street, the building and everything inside.  
  
"Let's see what I can do!" Mars said, glaring angrily. "Fiery   
Perdition!"  
  
Sailor Mars let loose a blanket of flame aimed at engulfing the   
ice giant and, if not destroying it, disabling it. The giant, though,   
parried with another blast of cold that held the firewall at bay. Mars   
bore down, trying to force her fire past the waves and waves of cold.   
Her flame was further battered by the driving snow formed by the effect   
of the bitter cold on the water vapor in the air.   
  
Finally Mars could maintain her attack no longer. The fire died   
away and only her own nimbleness allowed Mars to escape being frozen.   
The others regrouped around her as Mars leaned against a wall.  
  
"That's one tough monster!" gasped Mars.  
  
"Yeah, it took three of our strongest attacks and barely stopped,"   
Jupiter marveled. "I'm not ready to quit, but I'd think we need a   
change of tactics."  
  
"And quick!" Artemis added. "That giant's already frozen the   
whole block!"  
  
To punctuate the warning from Artemis, a deafening creak pealed   
through the icy city block. The sound was of wood and concrete pushed   
past its capacity and loudly shearing. The senshi turned and saw a   
perfume shop collapse in on itself.  
  
"What happened?" gasped Mars.  
  
"The weight of the ice must have been too great for the building's   
frame to hold," Mercury explained.  
  
"You don't suppose there were people in there, do you?" Venus   
asked.  
  
In response, Mercury summoned her computer and scanned the   
wreckage. The look of abject horror on her face was all the   
confirmation they needed - - there were victims, but none that could be   
saved.  
  
"Maybe we better evacuate the other buildings?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"There's no time for that!" Luna proclaimed. "You have to stop   
that monster! The police and fire departments will have to handle   
evacuations! I realize it may seem cold, even cruel, but it's   
necessary! We must focus our efforts!"  
  
"OK, how?" asked Mars.  
  
"The cohesion of ice is not very strong," Mercury reasoned.   
"Given the mass of that creature, a blow of sufficient intensity should   
shatter it. Or perhaps a lesser strength blow aimed at a stress point."  
  
"Can you find a stress point?" Venus asked.  
  
"I can try," Mercury said. She began punching commands into her   
computer. But in mid-string, she stopped, staring in wonder at her   
computer. Slowly, in shock, she turned back to the park. The others   
looked with her and saw what had brought this state of amazement onto   
her.  
  
"It just got worse," mumbled Venus as another Frost Giant   
descended onto the frozen lake from the temporal portal above.  
  
Her head reeling, Mercury turned back to the first Frost Giant and   
resumed scanning. Out of nowhere an obstruction popped up and Mercury   
felt hands grip her shoulders to steady her. She looked up into a full   
bust accented with a blue bow.  
  
"Steady, Mercury," Sailor Neptune said with a confident smile.   
Sailor Uranus and Sailor Pluto flanked her. She turned to the other   
inner senshi. "You keep after this one. We'll take the one in the   
park." The inners nodded, Mercury with a slight blush.  
  
"Be careful," warned Artemis. "It can project intense cold from   
its hands."  
  
"Right!" Neptune nodded as she, Uranus and Pluto headed for the   
park.  
  
"Have you found that stress point yet?" Venus prodded.  
  
"Oh! Um," Mercury sputtered, shaking herself. "Yes! The torso   
is the thickest part! Avoid that and aim for the head and limbs!"  
  
"Got it!" Mars said, racing off with Jupiter.  
  
"Remember, you have to generate sufficient force!" Mercury called   
after them.  
  
The outer senshi raced into the park just as the second Frost   
Giant had made shore. Overhead, a news helicopter circled the giant,   
taking a live feed that was currently running on TV Asahi. The giant   
looked up at the circling copter and swung at it in annoyance, barely   
missing the craft.  
  
"We've got civilians to protect!" roared Uranus. Her hand shot up   
into the air and geo-force collected in the palm. "World Shaking!"  
  
The globe of geo-force sped across the ground and exploded into   
the Frost Giant, rocking the monster backwards. When it regained its   
balance, the monster turned to them and roared in defiance.  
  
In response, Uranus threw another geo-force blast at it. The   
Frost Giant staggered backwards, lost its balance and tumbled to one   
knee.   
  
"That's got it!" Uranus cheered. "One more good blast should   
finish it off!"  
  
But the Giant was quicker. Its hand came up and suddenly the   
three outer senshi were struck with a blast of intense, numbing cold.   
The trio staggered back in the face of the cold. Neptune, feeling frost   
forming on her face and legs, acted quickly.  
  
"Deep Submerge!" she howled.  
  
Instantly a wave of water sprang up between them and the Frost   
Giant, threatening to engulf the giant. But his blast of intense cold   
quick-froze the water into a wall of ice eight feet thick and forty feet   
high. The helicopter circled in for a close shot. Though her attack   
had been thwarted, it had served its dual purpose. There was now a   
barrier between them, temporarily shielding the three outer senshi from   
the numbing blast of the Frost Giant.  
  
Neptune sank to her knees, clutching her torso as she shivered.   
Instantly she felt Uranus next to her.  
  
"You going to make it?" Uranus asked, deeply concerned.  
  
"So cold!" gasped Neptune. "Don't worry about me. Just take that   
thing out!"  
  
Uranus nodded. Despite feeling the effects of the bitter cold on   
her own body, Sailor Uranus ran for the edge of the barrier. Sailor   
Pluto flanked her as she ran. At the edge of the barrier, Uranus   
summoned another geo-force and let it fly.  
  
However, the Frost Giant was not caught unaware. As it was about   
to be struck by the blast from Sailor Uranus, it let loose another wave   
of cold that struck Uranus. The geo-blast knocked the monster back down   
to one knee.  
  
Uranus was thrown back onto the ground. She began to stiffen as   
ice formed around her rapidly cooling frame. Grimacing, the senshi   
tried to force herself up, trying to avoid falling to the attack.   
However, her body was too cold. She could barely feel it, let alone   
make it function.  
  
"Dead Scream," came the barely audible reply from Sailor Pluto.   
  
A sonic blast struck Sailor Uranus. It blasted her up into the   
air, then let her plummet back to the ground where she landed limply.   
But the blast achieved its intended purpose, in that all the ice forming   
around her shattered and was blasted away. Pluto cautiously came up   
next to the fallen warrior and knelt down next to her.  
  
"Are you capable of continuing?" Pluto asked.  
  
"Between you," gasped Uranus, "and that thing? Give me a minute."  
  
"You shall have your minute," Pluto replied, standing and   
brandishing her time staff as she faced the Frost Giant.  
* * * *  
"Exploding Golden Kiss!" roared Venus.   
  
The shockwave ripped down the street, exploding cars and a   
hydrant, before tearing into the legs of the Frost Giant. The Giant   
staggered, but maintained its balance and turned toward the annoyance.  
  
"Venus, you're doing more damage than the Frost Giant is!" gasped   
Artemis.  
  
"Everybody's a critic!" scowled Venus. "Did that do anything?"  
  
"Yeah, it made him mad!" Jupiter yelled. "Head's up!"  
  
The senshi lunged for safety as a frigid blast headed for them.   
The spouting hydrant instantly froze over and the street was coated with   
a thick sheen of ice. Satisfied that the annoyance was dealt with, the   
Frost Giant turned and began lumbering off toward the business district,   
leaving ice and frozen buildings in its wake.  
  
"After it!" Artemis yelled.  
  
"Oh, sure!" griped Venus. "I bet you've never tried to run on a   
sheet of ice in high heels!"  
  
"I'm going to try for the head!" shouted Jupiter.  
  
Jupiter ran ahead, displaying a confidence and dexterity on the   
ice that Venus could only envy. She opened up a gap between her and her   
partners, closing in on the giant lumbering along oblivious to her. As   
she ran, she summoned the lightning rod from her tiara.  
  
"Supreme Thunder!" she roared.  
  
Lightning seemed to lance down from the heavens and jump onto the   
rod atop her tiara. Jupiter contracted into herself, taking in all the   
electricity she could absorb, then expelled it in one gigantic deadly   
bolt. The bolt struck the back of the Frost Giant's head. Ice chucks   
flew from it as the giant pitched forward. It caught itself at the last   
moment before it fell, then turned once more to the annoyance.  
  
"It was a direct hit!" fumed Jupiter. "What is this thing made   
of? How are we supposed to kill it?"  
  
"Sparkling Tsunami!" Jupiter heard Mercury call out just before   
the Frost Giant was engulfed with water. The water quickly froze around   
the giant, which was Mercury's attack anyway. It didn't need the   
giant's help, but the giant only made it freeze faster.  
  
"Did that get him?" Venus asked, running up gingerly so she didn't   
slip and fall.  
  
"He seems to be trapped in the ice," Mercury said, scanning the   
huge berg with her visor. "Ironic, in a way."  
  
"Boy, you'd think ice would be the last thing to fight that   
monster with," smiled Sailor Mars, joining up with the group again.  
  
"Actually I was counting on the Frost Giant reacting the way it   
did," Mercury told them. "Its first and only defense seems to be to   
freeze whatever attacks. By reacting that way to my freezing wave of   
water, all it did was make the trap around it thicker."  
  
"But will it hold?" Luna asked.  
  
"It depends upon how much pressure the Frost Giant can exert   
against the ice holding it," reasoned Mercury. "It seems to be holding   
for now."  
  
"OK, how do we kill it?" Jupiter asked. "Attack the stress   
points, like you said?"  
  
"I'm not certain we can, now. We can't use any attacks against it   
without sundering the ice it's trapped in. We may just have to find a   
way to send it back to Knorr like that."  
  
"Well this thing is dealt with for now," Venus told them. "Maybe   
we should head back to the park to see if the outers need help."  
  
Their first warning was a hiss that seemed to grow in strength,   
like the sizzle of water on a griddle cranked up to full blast. Then   
the icy cocoon around the Frost Giant exploded outward as the giant   
twisted and flexed its frosty torso. Huge chunks of ice went flying.   
One crashed into the street near Mercury, Venus and the cats. The shock   
of the impact threw them back. Each lay stunned on the icy street. The   
Frost Giant kicked loose from the ice that had held it, then turned and   
headed once more for the business district.   
  
"Mars!" Sailor Mars snapped, her hand at her side. "Flame   
Sniper!"  
  
The flaming bow and arrow formed in her hands. Remembering   
Mercury's admonition to try to sunder the Frost Giant at its weak   
points, Mars took careful aim for the back of the giant's head. Her   
shaft zipped through the air and impacted with the monster's head just   
at the neckline. Clouds of steam rose from the wound as the flaming   
arrow bore into the thing as far as it could before dying into embers.   
The giant pitched to its knees from the impact and the pain it endured.  
  
"You got it down!" shouted Jupiter. "I'll try to keep it down!   
Supreme Thunder!"  
  
Another blue-white bolt of electricity leaped at the Frost Giant   
like a vicious wolf. The bolt bit into the thigh of the giant and   
chunks of ice exploded out from the limb. What ice remained had   
hairline cracks in it. Seconds passed and Mars had another arrow   
notched and loose. The blazing arrow impacted into the head, throwing   
more steam up as it burrowed into it. The Frost Giant flinched like it   
was struck with a huge ball bat and threatened to topple onto the   
ground.   
  
Both Mars and Jupiter were prepared to strike again when, in   
desperation, the giant swung its arm behind it. A wave of arctic cold   
slammed into the two senshi. Mars and Jupiter howled in agony as the   
wave stripped the warmth from their bodies and sent them hurling   
backward into the street. Each woman skidded to a stop on the ice and   
lay there shivering. Mars felt someone cradle her. She looked up   
through recovering eyes and saw it was Venus.  
  
"You OK?" Venus asked.  
  
"Feel like I just went skinny-dipping in January!" gasped Mars,   
her teeth chattering.  
  
"Now there's a mental image," smirked Venus.  
  
Too cold to scowl, Mars silently summoned the fire to her. The   
warmth of the fire flooded through her like hot soup on a cold day and   
she let out a grateful sigh.  
  
"I'm better now," Mars told Venus as she sat up. Looking around,   
she saw Mercury ministering to Jupiter. The lanky senshi was huddled on   
the street, shivering and pale. "How is she?"  
  
"She's going to need some time," Mercury said. The woman looked   
around for something to cover Jupiter with.  
  
"Come on." Mars felt a tug on her arm and realized it was Venus.   
"Let's go get this thing."  
  
"Right behind you," nodded Mars, pulling herself to her feet.  
  
"Then you can tell me where that whole 'skinny-dipping' slip came   
from," Venus smirked.  
  
"Shut up!" scowled Mars.  
  
Tracking the Frost Giant wasn't difficult. All they had to do was   
follow the path of ice and frozen buildings, cars and people. Several   
buildings had already crumbled from the weight of the ice or had huge   
gashes in them due to a careless step of the giant. Mars and Venus   
could see they were entering the business district. It was an island in   
the city filled with high-rise office buildings, each building filled   
with people who up until a little while ago had been working at their   
jobs. The few that exited the buildings in blind panic were quickly   
frozen. As the two senshi closed the distance between them and the   
Frost Giant, they readied themselves to launch their attacks.  
  
"Hey, Mars!" Sailor Mars heard Venus call out. "Isn't that your   
dad on TV?"  
  
Mars turned to the giant digital television screen that decorated   
the side of the Sony building. Instantly her featured twisted into   
burning hatred. Towering thirty feet in the air four stories above the   
sidewalk was the face of Dietman Tetsuo Hino, Secretary General of the   
ruling Liberal Democrat Party and acknowledged unofficial leader of the   
Japanese Diet.  
  
"Citizens of Japan," the graying but still obscenely handsome   
politician said in the firm, clear voice that for so long seemed to   
demand obedience from the Japanese people, "the city of Tokyo is under   
attack. Forces of unknown origin have invaded the city, spreading   
destruction and disaster in their wake. Evacuation of all non-essential   
citizens has begun. Please do not panic. Civil Defense forces have   
been mobilized in accordance with the surrender agreement with the   
United States. We are also receiving assistance from U.S. forces   
stationed in Japan. I am asking you to remain in your homes or in your   
businesses until Civil Defense Evacuation teams can get to you. The   
streets must be clear for emergency traffic. All non-essential travel   
is banned until further notice. If you are not part of the Civil   
Defense forces, do not go out."  
  
"Everybody stay home and cower, right?" sneered Mars through   
gritted teeth. "You're in charge as usual, is that it?" Violently she   
swung on the Frost Giant lumbering down the street headed for downtown   
Tokyo. Her hand snapped to her side. "MARS!" she snapped venomously.   
"FLAME SNIPER!"  
  
The fiery bow and arrow again materialized in her hands. Mars   
took a second to aim and let fly with a shaft. The burning arrow   
cleaved the air at almost supersonic speed, then split the head of the   
Frost Giant in two. The giant wobbled for a moment, then fell backward   
into the side of an office building, careening onto the street.  
  
Her eyes burning with rage, Mars turned back to the image of her   
father on the television screen and then spat on the ground.  
Continued in chapter 2 


	2. The Power Of Love

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 2: "The Power Of Love"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Mamo-chan," Usagi inquired weakly. She looked up through eyes   
that didn't want to focus. There was a dark shape near her, but only   
when it scooped up her limp hand and squeezed it did she know it was her   
husband. "Have I been asleep long?"  
  
"Long enough," Mamoru said tenderly. Then he smiled with   
mischief. "Of course you laying around doing nothing isn't unusual,   
Odango Atama."  
  
"If I had any strength, I'd hit you with my shoe," Usagi pouted.   
"How close did I come?"  
  
"Way too close for my tastes," Mamoru replied.  
  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't scare you like that."  
  
"Don't blame yourself," Mamoru said, gently brushing yellow bangs   
from her forehead. "This wasn't your fault. This was caused by Janus."  
  
"Janus?"  
  
"He poisoned you."  
  
"Why would he do that?"  
  
"Because he was the advance scout for an invasion of beings called   
The Frost Giants," Mamoru explained. "And you were the only one   
powerful enough to stop their invasion of Earth. So they took you out   
- - almost permanently."  
  
"Poor Setsuna," Usagi whimpered. "She must be devastated. She   
was really in love with him."  
  
Mamoru smiled in amazement at his wife's reaction. His thumb   
caressed her lips.  
  
"How do you feel?" he asked.  
  
"Weak," Usagi told him. "It's all I can do to stay awake."  
  
"Well, your vitals have shown an amazing improvement in the last   
few hours. Unless something happens, like you trying to get up too   
soon, you should be out of the woods in a few days."  
  
"I'm not getting up," Usagi smiled wanly. "I'm not sure I could   
right now."  
  
Suddenly the hospital room shook violently. Mamoru stood and   
peered out of the window.  
  
"Mamo-chan, what is it?" Usagi asked.  
  
"The Frost Giants," he told her.  
  
"They invaded already?"  
  
"No one could stop them."  
  
"But," and Usagi swallowed, "what about the senshi?"  
  
"They're fighting even as we speak." Mamoru looked down, burdened   
by his next thought. "I may have to join them."  
  
"You do what you need to do," Usagi said resolutely. "Don't worry   
about me. Just please be careful." She smiled timidly at him. "I'll   
join you as soon as I can."  
  
Mamoru leaned over and kissed her.  
  
"You get well," he told her.  
  
"Come back to me and I will. Your kisses are the best medicine   
there is for me."  
  
Mamoru returned her gaze of love, then turned and left. Usagi lay   
in her hospital bed and tried not to be afraid for him.  
* * * *   
Sailor Pluto stepped away from the barrier and out into the open,   
in full view of the Frost Giant. Her Time Staff was held between her   
two hands level with the ground. Her expression was unreadable, were   
the Frost Giant capable of reading expressions. The giant reacted as   
expected toward her. His huge hand came up and fired a numbing blast of   
cold directly at her.  
  
Without changing expression, Sailor Pluto brought her staff up to   
a vertical position and faded away.  
  
Perplexed, the giant stared for a moment. From the safety of the   
barrier, the recovering Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune stared as well.   
The impression of Sailor Pluto faded from the brain of the Frost Giant.   
He turned back to his original course, heading for the gate of the park.  
  
Then Sailor Pluto appeared before him, forty feet from her   
original position. She blocked the giant's path to the gate.  
  
"Chronos Whirlpool!" Pluto called out, rotating her staff in a   
counter-clockwise motion. The ruby talisman atop the staff began to   
glow. The giant's motion ground to a stop.  
  
"Pluto, what did you do?" Neptune gasped, running over to her   
longtime comrade in arms.   
  
"I have slowed time around the giant," Pluto explained. "For him   
a second is to us a day. If you wish proof, I suggest you watch him   
closely. You will see him move slightly - - in an hour or so."  
  
"Pluto," Neptune whispered, awed by both the display of power and   
by her friend's cavalier attitude toward it. "How long have you been   
able to do this?"  
  
"I have always been able to do this," Pluto replied casually.   
"Power such as this is my birthright as the senshi of time. I have only   
just recently realized I am able to do such things." She stared at   
Neptune and Neptune could see some of the pain lingering behind the   
stoic façade. "I have come to learn many things in the past few months,   
both about myself and about the world in general. I admit many of those   
lessons are things I would rather not have learned. But that, too, is   
my birthright."  
  
Suddenly Sailor Pluto clutched at her chest, doubling over in   
pain.  
  
"Pluto!" gasped Sailor Neptune. "What is it?"  
  
"Pain!" Pluto gasped out through teeth ground together.   
"Incredible!"  
  
"Did you hurt yourself?"  
  
"I," she sputtered, "cannot see how! Untouched!" Pluto was   
panting like she couldn't get enough air. Beads of sweat were forming   
on her brow and instantly cooling. Pluto clung to her Time Staff as if   
it were a lifeline. "So weak!"  
  
"Maybe that thing is doing something to you!" Neptune choked out.   
"I'll try to finish it off!"  
  
Concentrating, Sailor Neptune summoned the Deep Aqua Mirror.   
Bringing it up to her face, she began to invoke the phrase that would   
let loose the mirror's deadly energy beam. Then she stopped. In the   
mirror was not her own reflection, but Pluto. And through the crystal   
clear vision of the Deep Aqua Mirror, Sailor Neptune discovered the   
truth.  
  
"Pluto, you have to stop slowing time for that Frost Giant!"   
Neptune said desperately. "The attack is draining away your life   
energy!"  
  
Grimacing, Pluto concentrated. The Ruby Orb atop the staff flared   
crimson. At once time seemed to kick back into gear for the Frost Giant   
and in seconds it was lumbering past them, headed toward the residential   
East Side of Tokyo. Pluto clutched her chest and gasped for air,   
Neptune by her side.  
  
"So," Pluto panted, "some futures are hidden even from me." She   
sucked in more air. "Or perhaps I was careless, arrogant in my new   
abilities."  
  
"Or maybe you're still feeling your way," Neptune consoled her.   
"How are you now?"  
  
"The pain in my chest has subsided," Pluto told her. "I feel   
wrung out, but I will live."  
  
"Good," Neptune smiled warmly.  
  
Something caused both senshi to look behind them. Perhaps it was   
a noise, perhaps just a perception. To their mutual horror, a third   
Frost Giant was emerging from the portal over the lake.  
  
"Damn it!" spat Neptune in frustration. She pushed to her feet.   
"There's no more time! I'm going to destroy that second giant or die   
trying! Get back into the battle as soon as you can!"  
  
Pluto nodded. She knew words were useless at a time like this.  
  
"And Setsuna," Neptune said, turning back to her. "If this is my   
last battle, I'm sorry for the trouble that I caused between us. I'm   
honored to have fought next to you and to have called you a friend."  
  
"And I you," Pluto replied, her voice husky with emotion.  
* * * *  
Usagi opened her eyes and breathed weakly. It took a moment to   
focus. When she did, she saw Sanjuro in the doorway, nearly blocking   
out all the light from the hall. He peeked in timidly. Huddled next to   
him were Akiko and Ichiro. Usagi silently waved them in. When the kids   
noticed she was awake, they broke from their father and ran to her   
bedside.  
  
"Auntie Usagi?" Akiko ventured timidly. "What happened?"  
  
"I," and the woman paused to edit, "accidentally ate something bad   
for me. I'm sorry if I've worried you kids."  
  
"Are you going to be all right?" Ichiro asked, dreading the   
answer.  
  
"Yes," she sighed with fatigue. "Your Aunt Ami and your Uncle   
Mamo-chan are taking care of me. I can't get much better care than   
that, can I? And your Mom and your Aunt Rei and Aunt Minako are   
watching out for me, too. Don't worry. I'm in very good hands. You   
have to trust them like I do."  
  
"When are you going to be well again?" Akiko asked.  
  
"I don't know," Usagi smiled weakly. "You know how bad I am at   
figuring out things like that." She stroked Akiko's face, then patted   
Ichiro on the shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm taking your Mom away from you   
for so long."  
  
"That's OK, Auntie Usagi," Akiko said with unearthly maturity.   
"Mom's a senshi and she's got to do stuff like that."  
  
"My, you're taking it so well," Usagi said. "When I was your age,   
I would have been crying my eyes out. I was such a little crybaby back   
then. Just ask your Aunt Rei." Usagi let out a tired breath. "Sorry I   
don't have any candy for you kids."  
  
"Just get well, Auntie Usagi," Ichiro said, on the verge of tears.   
"I'll trade all the candy in the world for that."  
  
Suddenly Sanjuro loomed over them both. He looked down at Usagi,   
his massive frame blotting out the room on that side, while his hands   
gently came to rest on his children for moral support. Ichiro took to   
the hand gratefully, while Akiko only silently acknowledged her   
gratitude.  
  
"Please take care of Makoto?" Usagi asked. "I'm afraid I'm giving   
her way too much to worry about. I know I've upset her terribly."  
  
"Don't worry about her," Sanjuro smiled reassuringly. "I'll take   
care of her. You just worry about yourself for a change."  
  
"I'll get well," Usagi smiled, drifting off to sleep. "Mamo-chan   
needs me to . . ."  
  
"We all need you to," Sanjuro whispered. Silently he led his   
children out of the room and closed the door.  
* * * *  
Sailor Neptune ran down the street, going as fast as she could in   
high heels on slick ice. Everywhere she looked, she saw frozen   
buildings collapsed under the weight of the ice; streets full of frozen   
cars and trucks, the fleeing drivers and passengers as frozen and   
motionless as their vehicles; sidewalks full of frozen people, stopped   
in their tracks as they tried to flee the monster. It hurt to see such   
devastation, but she shunted it aside. It was a talent she possessed,   
the ability to turn off her feelings and focus on the mission at hand.   
  
If they still lived in their tombs of ice, she would free them.   
For those who were already dead, she would weep for them later.  
  
When she had cut the distance between them to twenty meters,   
Sailor Neptune once more summoned the Deep Aqua Mirror. Brandishing it   
like a sword, she brought it up level with her face. Her green hair   
blew in suddenly biting cold winds, but she stood firm.  
  
"Submarine Reflection!" was the clarion call from her small mouth.  
  
An energy beam lanced out from the face of the mirror. It struck   
the Frost Giant in the back, square between the shoulder blades. The   
beam struck with enough force to pitch the giant forward. Shards of ice   
flew out from the monster where the beam had struck. The giant fell   
forward, falling to the street face first. The cars beneath it were   
crushed. Fortunately the people inside them had abandoned them and fled   
at the approach of the Frost Giant.  
  
Neptune allowed herself a moment's expression of confidence. It   
had been a blow well struck and lifted her spirits. If it wasn't   
already dead, a few more such blasts should finish it off. Her   
expression grew serious as the huge block of ice lifted itself from the   
street. It turned, pivoting on its knees, and extended its hand toward   
her.  
  
Knowing what was coming, Neptune fired another blast. The beam   
struck the hand of the Frost Giant. With the ice thinner at that point,   
the beam was able to pierce the hand completely. Cracks appeared   
through the palm and fingers of the hand. The giant recoiled in pain,   
pulling the hand back and in effect shearing off the last three fingers.  
  
Sensing the kill, Sailor Neptune bore down. She sent another beam   
directly into the chest of the beast. If it had a heart, she fully   
intended to use the Deep Aqua Mirror to carve it from the Frost Giant's   
chest. The beam struck and the giant fell back under the assault.  
  
Its cold attack stymied, the giant resorted to the only defense   
left to it. Picking up a frozen car, the giant flung it at Neptune.   
Propelled by the strength of the Frost Giant, the car hurled at Neptune   
with such speed that she was barely able to get out of the way. Neptune   
regained her balance on the precarious ice and brought up the mirror for   
another shot.  
  
At once she was struck with a blast of cold beyond arctic. The   
cold sliced through her body, cutting her to the bone and sapping   
vitality from her. Determined to see this through, though, Neptune bore   
down and propelled another beam at the Frost Giant. However, the   
intense cold acted as a buffer against the energy beam, draining the   
energy from the beam. When it finally fought through the intense cold,   
it struck the Frost Giant with no more force than a wadded tissue.  
  
"I'm beginning to freeze!" Neptune thought, fighting to keep from   
succumbing to the numbing cold. She nearly sank to her knees under the   
onslaught, expending precious energy to stay erect. Her hands could   
barely grip the mirror. Her skin was gaining patches of white and she   
could barely feel anything. "No! I have to fight back! I have to kill   
this thing! For the world's sake!"   
  
With trembling hands, Neptune brought up the Deep Aqua Mirror for   
another shot.  
  
"For Haruka!"  
  
And then the glass in the mirror shattered from exposure to the   
intense cold.  
* * * *  
"Hi, Princess," Usagi heard. For a moment, she wondered who knew   
she was Princess of the Moon Kingdom. Then she recognized the voice as   
her father's.  
  
"Hi, Daddy," Usagi smiled weakly. Her eyes came into focus again   
and she saw her beloved father standing over her. To his right was her   
mother, silent lest she betray the surging emotions she was feeling.   
"I'm sorry you two had to go through this."  
  
"I'm sorry you had to go through it," Kenji said. "Although I   
suppose it is something people in your line of work have to deal with."   
He smiled at a private jest. "I guess when I always called you   
'Princess', I was being more accurate than I knew."  
  
Usagi looked at him strangely, unsure she heard what she thought   
she heard.  
  
"Your mother told me, Princess," Kenji grinned sheepishly. "About   
Sailor Moon." He chuckled to hide his pain. "Remember all those times   
as a girl when you were worried whether you'd ever amount to anything?"   
He adjusted his black horn-rimmed glasses. "I guess you showed them   
all, didn't you?"  
  
"I should have told you," Usagi said. "If I had any courage, I   
would have. But I was afraid you wouldn't approve."  
  
"Well, if I'd known things like this would happen to you, I   
probably wouldn't have." He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it.   
"But I am very proud of you."  
  
"Yeah, and if I'd known back then, I wouldn't have wasted all that   
time worshipping you." Usagi turned to the voice and saw her brother,   
now thirty-one and looking more and more like his father.  
  
"Shingo," Usagi smiled. "How are you doing, Brat?"  
  
"That's my line," he smiled back.  
  
"How long have you known?"  
  
"What makes you think you had me fooled?" Shingo jested.  
  
Usagi gave him as stern a look as she could muster.  
  
"OK, about five or six years ago," Shingo grinned, something he   
didn't do a lot of. "You did good, Sis. It almost makes up for our   
childhood."  
  
"I hope you haven't been here very long. I hate to think you've   
all been cooped up in this hospital because of me. I always hated   
waiting in hospitals."  
  
"There was no way we were going to leave your side, dear," Ikuko   
finally chimed in, her voice barely a whisper. "Your friends and Mamoru   
were here, too. They stayed as long as they could."  
  
"Yeah, and it's not like we could go anywhere anyway," Shingo   
added. Kenji silently admonished him.  
  
"The Frost Giants?" Usagi sighed. "Mamo-chan told me before he   
left."  
  
"Yes, between those things and the Civil Defense forces, Tokyo is   
practically shut down," Ikuko informed her daughter. "Even if we wanted   
to leave, we're stuck here." She grasped her daughter's hand. "But   
that's OK, because we don't want to leave without you."  
  
Usagi smiled warmly. The words seemed to invigorate her.  
* * * *  
Feeling returned to Sailor Uranus for the first time in a while.   
She was still worn out and every wind seemed to cut through her, but the   
woman forced herself up to her knees. She looked up and spotted the   
third Frost Giant emerging from the portal.  
  
"Damn it!" she spat. "Come on, Uranus! Get up! No one's going   
to fight your battles for you!"  
  
After finally attaining a wobbly perch on her two feet, Sailor   
Uranus summoned her talisman, The Space Sword. As it materialized in   
her hand, Uranus caught sight of the helicopter from TV Asahi. It was   
circling the new Frost Giant, trying to get pictures of the new menace   
for their live TV feed. Then she saw the Frost Giant glance toward the   
helicopter.  
  
"No!" yelled Uranus. "You're too close!"  
  
Her words went unheard and unheeded. The Frost Giant suddenly   
raised its right hand, shielded from the view of the copter, and hit the   
craft with a blast of cold. The crew struggled to hold the craft steady   
as cold air pockets buffeted the ship. Ice began forming on the rotor   
blades and the stabilizer. Bereft of enough lift to keep the craft   
aloft, the helicopter nosed toward the ground. It spun once and   
impacted with the surface of the frozen over lake below. The fuel tank   
ruptured and consumed the ship in a fireball, a flicker of warmth amid a   
landscape of ice. Uranus ground her teeth in rage.  
  
"You will not have died in vain!" fumed Uranus, already charging   
the monster, brandishing her sword, even as it turned back to its   
course. "AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"  
  
Screaming her battle cry, Uranus dived at the ankle of the ice   
giant. She would hack at the lower limb of the monster, then dive aside   
to dodge any retaliation. The Frost Giant stopped in confusion and   
looked down. Chunks of ice were being gashed from its leg, but Uranus   
wouldn't stand still long enough to blast. It took several shots at   
her, but she always managed to nimbly dance away at the last second.   
Rolling to avoid one shot took her to a frozen tree. Out of the giant's   
range, she watched it turn and lumber off.  
  
"Space Sword Blaster!" bellowed Uranus.   
  
Deadly energy arcs spun out from the blade of her cutlass. They   
cleaved the frigid air and impacted with deadly efficiency in the back   
of the giant. It stumbled forward, staggered by the mighty blow, and   
then righted itself. Turning, the Frost Giant let loose a blast of cold   
that Uranus managed to avoid, then continued on its course out of the   
park. Thick scars in the icy back of the creature marked the result of   
Uranus's attack. But the giant continued on.  
  
"Nothing!" gasped Sailor Uranus in shock. "I may as well throw   
rocks at it! What does it take to stop these things?"  
  
continued in chapter 3 


	3. Naru's Story

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 3: "Naru's Story"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
My name is Naru Osaka. It's Naru Osaka again. For a while there   
it was Naru Gurio. That's when Umino and I were married.  
  
Being married to Umino wasn't the torture everybody assumed it   
would be. We had some nice times. Umino can be a little   
obsessive-compulsive at times, but he's very sweet and very gentle.   
He's kind and goes out of his way to be considerate to people. He   
worked hard and was a good provider. We weren't rich, but we were very   
comfortable.  
  
And our marriage did produce Yuki, our son. He's fifteen now.   
He's such a wonderful boy. He's as smart as Umino and he's just so   
handsome. He looks a little like Nephrite sometimes with his long brown   
hair. If I was put on this Earth for no other reason than to produce   
him, I've led a successful life.  
  
So why am I Naru Osaka again?  
  
A girl always dreams of finding a guy who'll make her the center   
of his universe. To have a guy dote on her, worry about her, dedicate   
his life to her happiness, that's a big fantasy for a lot of girls, me   
included. But reality is a different story.  
  
Sometimes you want to do for him, to show your love and affection.   
And if he won't let you, that becomes frustrating. And if you want to   
help out the family financially to ease his burden and that just makes   
him feel like a failure, it makes you feel bad. And sometimes if you   
just want to be alone for a few hours and he's always there . . .  
  
I didn't divorce Umino because I hated him. I divorced him   
because I couldn't live with him any longer. Umino loved me. He still   
loves me. He just loves me too much and doesn't love himself enough.   
And I just couldn't take it anymore.  
  
So there I was, thirty-one with no job, no support and a son to   
feed. I couldn't do anything because I never really prepared for a   
career. Usagi and I spent most of our high school years dreaming   
instead of studying. I always figured I'd meet a wonderful man, settle   
down and never need to find a job. I never factored a divorce into my   
dreams when I was fifteen and in love with being in love. You don't   
think about divorcing Prince Charming.  
  
Fortunately Mom was there, just like she always is. She gave me a   
position at her jewelry store. It gave me an income and let her stay   
open longer without working herself to death. My Mom's an amazing   
woman. Dad left us when I was five. Mom would never say why, but I   
think it was because he couldn't stand that she was a success in   
business and he wasn't. But she managed to run that jewelry business by   
herself and raised me with no help.  
  
And it shows. She's fifty-eight now and she looks ten years   
older. I worry about her sometimes. Me coming into the business with   
her finally gave her a chance to slow down. And I think it's what she's   
always wanted, deep down. She's grooming me to take over the business   
and I've never seen her happier.  
  
As for me, I'm grateful for the chance to pay her back for   
everything she's done for me. And I'm grateful for the chance to   
support Yuki during his teenage years. He spends six months with Umino,   
but when he's with me I want to provide for him. It's not important   
that selling jewelry doesn't really excite me. Sometimes you have to   
make sacrifices for the people you love. It's a good life. I'm better   
off than I could have been. I shouldn't question it.  
  
But I can't help lying in bed at night every so often and be   
afraid that if Nephrite somehow showed up at my doorstep, alive, I'd go   
away with him without a moment's hesitation.  
  
I was at the jewelry store when it happened. Mom was in the back,   
talking to her buyer from Antwerp. I was out front, showing some gold   
bands to a young couple looking for wedding rings. They were a cute   
couple - - young, innocent, full of hope and anticipation for the future   
and what it held. They were in love. I knew the look. I saw it in the   
mirror many times over my thirty-five years, the first time at fourteen.   
There was only the wretched, repetitive canned music playing in the   
store, so I had no way of hearing any news bulletins.  
  
My first clue that something had happened was when the building   
shook. It was like the earthquake we'd had five years ago, but there   
was a loud crash outside, too. The couple turned to the noise, gazing   
out of the picture window at the front of the shop. Before I looked, I   
put the tray of rings away in the case - - some lessons are ingrained   
deeply and early in a jeweler's daughter. After the case was locked, I   
joined the customers up front.  
  
At first it looked like smoke was rising up from about two blocks   
over, near the park. None of us was sure what had happened.  
  
"Was it an explosion?" the lady asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," her beau told her.  
  
"Well whatever happened, it looks like there's a fire," I heard   
myself say anxiously.  
  
"That's not smoke," Mom said. She and the man from Antwerp - - I   
think his name is Klaus - - had joined us. "It looks like a dust cloud.   
I think a building may have collapsed."  
  
Sirens punctured the air. Emergency Response Vehicles, fire   
trucks and police all raced down the street headed for the plume. I   
didn't know what was going on, but I found myself wishing Umino were   
there to protect me.  
  
Then I saw it pass between two buildings. It was a head - - a   
massive white head. It had to be sixty meters in the air. It looked   
vaguely human, with cold, jagged features carved out of ice and snow.   
It wasn't human, though; it couldn't be.  
  
"Hikaru, look at that!" gasped the lady. Everyone else bent to   
look. I didn't. I was having uneasy flashbacks.  
  
"Sacre bleu!" whispered Klaus.  
  
"Hikaru, what is it?" the lady asked nervously.  
  
Hikaru's only response was to take his fiancee by the hand and   
lead her out of the shop. They headed in the opposite direction of the   
monstrous head. Probably a wise decision.  
  
Mom was already behind the counter. She pulled up a miniature TV   
she kept behind the counter and turned in on. Klaus went pale, mumbled   
some regrets in a mixture of Japanese and French, and stumbled out of   
the shop. With forced calm, Mom began searching the dial for a station   
with news. I just stood there. It all seemed agonizingly familiar.  
  
For years I wondered if I was cursed. It was bad enough that   
monsters, demons and creatures from space kept invading the city I lived   
in. Since I was fourteen, Tokyo's been invaded probably ten times. It   
can make you paranoid.  
  
What's even worse is that sooner or later the invaders always seem   
to attack me. Ever since that demon tied Mom up and took her place,   
then tried to kill me, my life has been on this weird roller coaster.   
Whenever I hear that some new menace is in Tokyo, I know that sooner or   
later I'll be involved. I didn't know at first what I had that they   
wanted. I'm not special.  
  
But they always find me.  
  
So when I saw that huge head between the rooftops, I got that   
familiar dread again. I thought for a moment about hiding, but I knew   
it wouldn't work. They'd find me. They always find me.  
  
And Usagi would have to protect me. It's so weird having a super   
warrior for a friend. I never pictured her as a savior when we were   
giggling and sighing over our teen magazines in my bedroom. Not that   
she wouldn't have done it if given the means - - Usagi's heart is so big   
and she's so kind that I doubt she could reach any other conclusion.   
And that's one of the reasons you can't help but like her. Her biggest   
ambition in life has always been to be everybody's friend.  
  
I remember when we first met. We were eight and in third year   
elementary. I was new to the class and I spotted her immediately   
because of her bizarre hairstyle. Her hair was golden blonde, which is   
rare enough, and was gathered in two balls on either side of her head,   
with curly trails coming down to her shoulders. She looked strange, but   
really, really cute.  
  
To this day I don't know why, but she singled me out and walked   
right up to me. Maybe it was because I was the new girl.   
  
"I'm Usagi Tsukino," she chirped. "What's your name?"  
  
I've always been shy around strangers, especially when I was   
young. And I didn't know what to make of this bold little girl.  
  
"Um, I'm Naru Osaka," I said. She stuck out her hand and I took   
it because I didn't want to find out what she'd do if I didn't.  
  
"Naru? Oh, that's such a pretty name!" gushed Usagi. "Let's be   
friends!"  
  
Just like that - - "let's be friends", as if it were as simple as   
just wanting it. For a moment I thought she was crazy. Then she gave   
me this huge smile and gripped my hand energetically.  
  
And I felt - - good. And the more time I spent with Usagi, the   
happier I was. There's something about Usagi that just makes you feel   
good. As I spent more time with her, I found out she was an even bigger   
dreamer than I was - - and an even bigger romantic. She just knew that   
if she wished and believed hard enough and long enough, she'd meet the   
man of her dreams and live happily ever after. And for her it came   
true.  
  
We became inseparable from that point on. We were closer than   
sisters for six years. Then something happened.  
  
Sailor V appeared, and Usagi just went off the deep end. I mean I   
admired Sailor V, but Usagi worshipped her. Sailor V was almost as   
important to her as eating and what style of wedding dress she was going   
to wear.  
  
Then a few months later, Sailor Moon appeared and Usagi seemed   
preoccupied with something other than the latest idol and the latest   
fashions. She began making other friends and we began drifting apart.   
I didn't notice at first. I was too busy mourning Nephrite. Then one   
day I woke up and realized that my best friend wasn't my best friend   
anymore. She was someone else's best friend.  
  
We were still friends, but it wasn't the same as it was before   
Sailor Moon. She was running with Ami the genius girl and big, burly   
Makoto and that girl from the shrine and the blonde who went on to   
become Minako Aino the singing idol. For a time I wondered if I had   
done something to drive Usagi away. Then I wondered if, during my   
period of grief, Usagi's short attention span had pulled her in other   
directions. After all, she was dating Mamoru by then and she'd always   
hated him before. I even became jealous of her close friendship with   
the others for a little while.  
  
Then I began to put two and two together. Usagi was always   
disappearing. She and her new friends were always having meetings at   
Hikawa Shrine. And her circle of friends would always increase right   
about the time Sailor Moon would get a new senshi.  
  
Besides, who else wears her hair that way?  
  
That made it easier to take, knowing that my friend had a higher   
mission in life and responsibilities that precluded our being best   
friends. Saving the world is much more important that critiquing   
designs in fashion magazines. And I owe her my life a dozen times over,   
so I guess I owe her a little slack. It was always so funny when she   
had to pretend she didn't know me when she was Sailor Moon, particularly   
when she was always saving me. And all along I knew. I almost slipped   
once and told her I knew, but I didn't. If she wanted me to know, she   
would have told me. And we're still friends. She's always sending me   
little presents of flowers or copies of her manga.  
  
I know she's out there right now, being Sailor Moon, fighting to   
protect everyone - - to protect me. I kind of want to go out there and   
find her, maybe cheer her on. It's got to be a tough life sometimes,   
facing death and danger to protect others. Not that she'd think so.   
And I kind of want to get away from the shop so if trouble does find me   
again, like it always does, Mom won't be caught up in it.  
  
"Don't go out there, Naru-chan, please!" Mom gasped. She still   
calls me Naru-chan, even though I'm thirty-five. I looked at her,   
puzzled by her urgency. "Dietman Hino is on television. He says   
Tokyo's been invaded. We're supposed to stay inside until Civil Defense   
teams can evacuate us."  
  
Evacuate - - then it is happening all over again! I can't help   
but wonder how bad it'll be this time. Will it be as bad as the Dark   
Kingdom? As bad as that evil circus? As bad as that woman, what was   
her name - - Galaxia? I look at the window, hoping to catch a glimpse   
of Usagi so I'll know everything will be all right.  
  
"Naru-chan!" I heard Mom hiss. Turning to her blankly, my head   
swimming in events I can't comprehend, I wonder what she wants. "Help   
me lock the stock in the safe!"  
  
I smiled, reassured slightly. A jeweler to the end, that's my   
Mom. Sometimes I think Yuki and I are the only things Mom cares about   
more than her jewels.  
  
As I'm putting away a display of sapphire earrings, I get a pang.   
Yuki was out with his friends, courting girls and having fun. I feel   
sick that I don't know if he's all right. Mom seems to understand what   
I'm thinking and pats my hand. I want to run out and find him, but I   
don't disobey Mom. If Umino were still here . . .  
  
Shaking my head, I curse myself. Divorced four years and I'm   
still thinking that way. That's why I'm not more successful. Whether   
it's Mom or Nephrite or Umino or Usagi, I've always been dependent on   
other people in a crisis.   
  
When the last of the stock is locked away, I hurry back to the   
front window. The sight I'm greeted with is not reassuring. The   
streets are choked with cars. People are running through the streets in   
a blind panic. It's so thick with fleeing people that it's total   
gridlock. Emergency vehicles are trying to get through the sea of   
humanity. A cold shaft pierces my stomach. It's as bad as it was   
during Galaxia.  
  
"Come away from the window, Naru-chan," Mom urges.  
  
"Mom, maybe we should go," I suggest to her. My terror is a thing   
alive already and growing.  
  
But she shakes her head. "Dietman Hino asked us to stay inside.   
The streets have to be clear for emergency vehicles to get through."  
  
"They can't get through now!" I say with a little too much fear.   
"What if we get trapped?"  
  
"Dietman Hino knows what he's doing," she replied. Her trust in   
leadership has always been annoyingly resolute. "We have to trust him."   
She glanced at the throngs outside the shop. "Those people outside are   
fools. They're only making things worse."  
  
Maybe she was right. Still, I cast another anxious glance   
outside, hoping to see Usagi.  
  
Where was she? It dawned on me that she and the senshi were   
probably fighting the monster instead of guarding my door. I wish I   
thought better in crisis situations. I just seem to freeze up. I would   
have made a lousy senshi.  
  
"Naru-chan, come see!" Mom said, motioning me away from the   
window. On TV, there was helicopter footage of a battle in Juuban Park.   
One of the sailor senshi battled a giant man made of ice. He looked   
just like the one that passed by the buildings two blocks over.   
  
I stared at the pictures, fascinated and horrified. It dwarfed   
her. It was huge. It was a glacier with legs. The senshi, the blonde   
with the short hair, would hit it again and again with energy things   
from her sword without stopping it. The park was frozen. Everything   
was frozen. If I hadn't recognized features of the park I grew up in, I   
would have thought the battle was in the North Pole.  
  
And suddenly the picture broke up, then went black. Almost   
immediately the network switched back to the studio shot. The anchor   
said something about technical difficulties. I barely heard.  
  
"Amazing," mumbled Mom. "How is it possible?"  
  
I stared at her. How could she forget all the other times?   
Selective amnesia, I guess. She was scared. I could tell. I was   
scared, too. Our whole world seemed to be tumbling down around us and   
we just sat here waiting for someone to make it better. But what scared   
me more was that I saw senshi, but I didn't see Sailor Moon. Where was   
Sailor Moon? Only Sailor Moon could save us.  
  
So we sat and waited. The TV would tell us everything they knew,   
then repeat it endlessly until they got something new to tell us. Every   
so often we'd hear a loud thud, like something heavy falling. The   
throngs of people outside began to thin, though the traffic seemed to   
get worse. It was torture. It was like you were sitting, waiting for   
the gods to decide whether you lived or died.  
  
Then I noticed the thuds begin to come closer together.  
  
"What's that?" I asked suspiciously. Mom listened. She heard it,   
but she couldn't identify it.  
  
I ran to the window. Lumbering down the street was the giant ice   
man. Seeing it at a distance or on TV didn't prepare me for seeing it   
in person. It was beyond huge. It was as big as an office building.   
It dwarfed Osa-P. Ahead of it was one of the senshi, a pretty woman   
with green hair. She was blasting chunks from the ice man with a beam   
of light from a mirror. It didn't stop it.  
  
I noticed the air getting cold. At first I thought the   
air-conditioner had kicked on. Then I noticed something.  
  
"Mom!" I shouted urgently. "Mom, we have to get out! Now!"  
  
"Naru-chan, what is it?" she asked, frightened and confused.   
  
"NOW!"  
  
I reached for the doorknob, then pulled my hand back as icy cold   
snapped at me and bit my fingers. Looking up, I saw the whole door   
covered over in thick ice. The windows were covered, too. The whole   
front of the building was covered in ice.  
  
"We're trapped," I whispered.  
  
"We'll go out the back way," Mom said, her calm in the face of   
urgency reassuring. I figured she was doing it for me. I'd like to   
think I'd be the same way if it were Yuki and I in the same situation.  
  
We headed through the back room for the exit. I removed the bar   
from the door, but, wary of the metal after my last encounter, I hit the   
crash bar with my hip. It didn't open. I tried again and it didn't   
open. Frantic, I began pushing it down again and again, throwing my   
body against the door. It wouldn't budge. The coldness of the metal   
told me why.  
  
"Mom, we're trapped!" I gasped.  
  
Her reserve of motherly stoicism gone, Mom gathered me into her   
arms. She squeezed me to her, as much for her sake as for mine.  
  
"It'll be all right, Naru-chan," she whispered. "Civil Defense   
will rescue us."  
  
I was counting on Sailor Moon more than I was on Civil Defense.   
She had to show up. She always did.  
  
We went back into the show room and huddled by the TV. Already   
the room temperature had dropped to a point where you could feel the   
cold. The news wasn't very encouraging. There were reports of two ice   
men now, each going in a different direction. Each one seemed bent on   
freezing all of Tokyo into a giant ice cube. More senshi were fighting   
the other one. I could see Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus.  
  
But not Sailor Moon. Where was Sailor Moon? I suddenly got a   
sick feeling. What if she couldn't come? What if she was . . .?  
  
"Naru-chan!" Mom screamed as I picked up a chair and swung it at   
the picture window. The glass shattered into thousands of fragments,   
spraying back in my face. I felt their sting, but I didn't care. I   
beat on the ice again and again with the chair, trying to shatter the   
barrier. "Naru-chan, stop! You're hurt!"  
  
"She's not coming, Mom!" I screamed. "We have to get out of here   
or we're going to die here! She's not coming!"  
  
"Who's not coming?"  
  
"SAILOR MOON!" I shrieked and swung the chair again. One of the   
legs bent against the impervious ice wall. Throwing it to the floor, I   
looked around for something heavier.  
  
Then a sound split the room. It was loud and deep, mournful like   
the building was crying out in pain. Mom and I looked up to the   
ceiling. It was warping down toward us, ugly cracks appearing in the   
plaster.  
  
"The roof's collapsing!" Mom yelled. "Head for the back . . .!"  
  
That was all she got out before the ceiling caved in on us with a   
deafening, tortured roar. Suddenly there was a rush of action too fast   
for me to comprehend. When my senses caught up to events, I found   
myself on the floor, face down. My head rung. It was hard to breathe.   
I tried to get up and couldn't. Something pinned me down - - something   
heavy. I tried to cough to clear my throat and pain shot through my   
chest. And it was so cold. I looked around for Mom and couldn't see   
her.  
  
"Mom?" I croaked out. The silence was frightening.  
  
I tried to pull myself out from whatever held me, but I had no   
strength. My body was numb now. I don't know if it was from the weight   
or the cold.  
  
I hope Mom got out OK.  
  
Yuki, I hope you grow up to be a fine man. Please remember me. I   
wish I could kiss you once more.  
  
Umino, I wish I hadn't broken your heart.  
  
Nephrite, I wish you hadn't broken mine.  
  
Usagi, I hope you're not dead. I wish I could thank you for being   
in my life.  
  
I wish I could say good-bye to everyone, especially to Mom.  
  
It's so cold.  
  
It's not fair.  
  
I want to live!  
  
I . . . want . . .  
  
Continued in chapter 4 


	4. Akin To Snowflakes

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 4: "Akin To Snowflakes"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Sailor Jupiter ran through the streets of Tokyo. She hoped to   
link up with Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus. She'd been able to raise   
Venus on the Sailor Communicator. They began to compare results on   
their battles with the Frost Giants. Then communications was lost.  
  
"She's got to be all right!" thought Jupiter as she fought her way   
through hordes of fleeing civilians. "Please, please let her be all   
right!"  
  
It seemed like Armageddon. It seemed like civilization was   
crashing down around everyone. The streets were choked with cars,   
hopelessly grid-locked, their drivers in full-blown panic. The   
sidewalks teamed with people. It was mass hysteria. Loved ones got   
separated by the pushing crowds. Children cried in fear. Older people   
were buffeted. Pity those who lost their balance and fell, for they   
were often trampled. Finally eschewing the sidewalks, Jupiter made her   
way to the street, then began running across the hoods of the trapped   
autos.  
  
She looked up, for some reason. Another Frost Giant was pulling   
its way through the temporal portal over the pond. Another enemy.   
Another adding to the odds against them. If only Sailor Moon were with   
them. But this enemy had done their work well. Sailor Moon still lay   
in a hospital bed, weak and infirm.   
  
"Jupiter!" she heard a bellowed cry and her heart found   
encouragement. Turning to the sound, she saw Sailor Venus following the   
exit of the crowds from the business district.   
  
"When the communicators cut out, you just about gave me heart   
failure!" gasped Jupiter.  
  
"Had to move fast to avoid a cold blast," Venus explained.   
"Communicator fell and broke."  
  
"Where's Mars?"  
  
"Headed for the shrine. She got some sort of premonition or   
something. I think one of the giants is headed there. Where's   
Mercury?"  
  
"Headed back to the park. She's going to try to close that portal   
somehow. The cats went with her."  
  
"Artemis will know what to do if she doesn't," Venus nodded.   
"Ready to kick some icy butt?"  
  
"Always," nodded Jupiter. With that, the pair headed back into   
the business district.  
* * * *  
As Sailor Uranus pursued her Frost Giant, she couldn't help notice   
the devastation left in its wake. Frozen buildings, some crumbling in   
on themselves, people and animals frozen in their tracks and motionless   
- - it was like some scene from a grisly Christmas card. What struck   
her the most, though, was the eerie silence. All she could hear was the   
crunch of her own footfalls in the ice and snow, and the thudding steps   
of the giant ahead of her. Occasionally there would be the step of   
someone that had escaped the freezing blast of the giant and were now   
left to face exposure in the rapidly falling temperatures. The silence   
was unnatural - - sepulchral.  
  
As she crossed an intersection choked with frozen cars and frozen   
people, Uranus spotted a figure staggering down the cross street. It   
was Sailor Pluto. Altering her course, Uranus made for her fellow   
warrior.  
  
"You going to make it?" Uranus inquired.  
  
"I have little choice," Pluto replied. She was pale and clearly   
not well. "The entry of more giants must be abated if we are to have   
any hope of victory. I go to try to stem the tide."  
  
"Neptune?" Uranus asked slightly anxiously.  
  
Pluto thought for a moment, reviewing her ability to see all of   
history. She tried to remain inscrutable, but what she saw clearly   
upset her.  
  
"What?" demanded Uranus.  
  
Pluto debated silently with herself over how much to reveal. She   
avoided the urgent gaze of Uranus. Finally she faced Uranus.  
  
"She is in that direction. I suggest you go to her," Pluto   
replied.   
  
The manner in which she said it sent chills through Uranus.   
Nodding numbly, Uranus stumbled off the way Pluto came. Urgency lent   
her already fast pace greater speed. Feet imitating pistons, arms   
pumping, Uranus nearly flew along the icy street, spurred on by the   
growing fear that she was too late, that for all her vaunted speed she   
faced the yawning chasm of a life without Michiru Kaioh.   
  
And just as suddenly as if a switch had been flipped, the strength   
drained out of the form of Sailor Uranus. She stumbled to a stop in   
between frozen and smashed cars, between frozen and smashed buildings.   
Fifteen meters from her was Sailor Neptune. She was frozen solid, a   
crystalline princess cast in a crystalline cocoon, inanimate and   
perfectly preserved. She stared up at nothing, her shattered mirror   
out-stretched. Sunlight, diffused by the layer of ice around her, gave   
her an unearthly elegance. Blocks ahead a Frost Giant lumbered off, its   
grim work finished.  
  
Uranus walked up in shock on legs that didn't want to function.   
She stared at her love, tears burning down her cheeks. Uranus - -   
Haruka - - hadn't cried since she was thirteen, that night in the   
schoolyard of her middle school when three boys revealed to her the   
depths humanity could sink to. But she cried now, because her life was   
over, frozen and trapped forever in ice.  
  
"Michiru?" a wobbly voice whispered, a voice timid and fearful.   
It was a voice Haruka hadn't heard since she was a little girl.  
  
A hand reached out and delicately caressed the cold layer of ice.   
The cheek beneath it looked pale. Was she dead? Was Haruka Tenoh's   
first, last and only chance at happiness dead? The sadness engulfed   
her and, as it always had in her life, gave way to the rage.  
  
Teeth ground; jaw muscles clenched; adrenaline surged through her   
body as a red film slipped over her vision. A white-hot fury overtook   
her and she let it engulf her body and use it.  
  
"DRAGON WORLD SHATTERING!" Uranus bellowed without knowing or   
caring what she was shouting.   
  
Energy seemed to explode from her. She didn't care if it ripped   
her form asunder. She didn't care anymore. A geo-force bubble five   
times normal size detonated from her spot at ground zero and shot   
forward. It sliced through anything and everything in its path, gouging   
out an ugly wound in the Tokyo shopping district. As it flew across the   
frozen land, it seemed to sprout scalloped wings, a pointed tail and a   
serpentine head. Savagely it struck the Frost Giant from behind.   
Before the great thing knew it had been struck, the energy blew it into   
atoms. All of Tokyo was shaken by the tremor that resulted.  
  
Spent physically and emotionally, Sailor Uranus sank to her knees   
next to the frozen shroud of Sailor Neptune. The lanky senshi bent her   
head into her thighs and began weeping like a lost child. Oblivious to   
all that was around her, she continued to weep mournful, devastated   
sobs. Finally the thudding approach of another Frost Giant registered   
dimly in the outer rim of her perception. She continued to weep. It   
didn't matter what happened to her now.  
* * * *  
Sailor Mars raced up the steps. She didn't need her second sight   
to tell her that the Frost Giant was already at Hikawa's gates - - the   
ice forming on the steps was enough. She was, therefore, prepared for   
the scene she found at the top of the steps. It didn't make it any   
easier to take, though.  
  
The main building of the shrine was flattened under a thick slab   
of ice. The sacred entrance was broken, leveled as if by a giant hand.   
Everywhere trees were felled, broken like matchsticks. The garden, the   
garden that her grandfather had labored in for decades of his life, the   
garden that had been one of his life's joys, the garden she meticulously   
maintained in his memory though she was indifferent to gardening itself,   
was covered in a blanket of ice and snow. Only here and there were   
there even faint reminders that this had once been a holy place.  
  
Something told her to look to her left. Looming up above a tree   
was a Frost Giant, its hand extended and ready to smother her with a   
burst of frigid ice and snow. Mars was quicker. Producing one of her   
parchment wards, Sailor Mars leaped up into the air and flung it at the   
towering creature. With supernatural accuracy, the ward shot up and   
struck the giant's forehead, sticking there.  
  
Instantly the Frost Giant reeled backwards, its hands groping   
blindly in front of its face for the ward. But it groped too far   
forward, its senses distorted and its mind confused. Gone was all   
thought of anything except removing the ward. Sailor Mars watched the   
giant's actions with grim satisfaction as she gathered herself.  
  
"Burning Mandala!" Sailor Mars shouted.  
  
The enchanted fire circle struck the Frost Giant with telling   
effect. The beast shrunk back as the supernatural ring encircled it.   
Its fire resisted the cold and melting ice formed by the monster,   
flaring with deadly intensity. The Frost Giant twisted its head to the   
heavens, seeming to cry out in agony as its form withered down to   
nothing under the influence of Burning Mandala. The water from its   
corpse fell to the ground and quickly froze again into harmless ice.  
  
"The kids!" gasped Mars. "Were Makoto and Sanjuro's kids here?"  
  
Feeling sick at heart, Mars headed for the garden. She searched   
through the blanketed, ruined flowers and the sculpted trees. There   
were a few unfortunate animals caught by the Frost Giant and frozen, but   
no sign of the kids. Looking up, Mars caught sight of Deimos and   
Phobos, frozen to the limb they perched on and inanimate. Pain pierced   
her heart. Mars wanted to help them, but didn't yet know how. Instead   
she pressed on.  
  
With no sign of the kids, she moved to the rubble of the shrine   
itself. Gently pulling up parts of the caved in roof, Mars found a few   
bodies of worshippers who had been caught inside. Each new find tore a   
new wound in her heart. Something told her to stop, but she continued   
on.  
  
"Akira," she gasped softly when the body of her fellow priest was   
revealed.  
  
His head was smashed in by a fallen beam. Mars wanted to be sick   
right there. Then she noticed an indenture around his chest, as if he   
lay on something. Investigating, she found an infant cradled beneath   
his body.  
  
"He'd tried to shield her," Mars whispered, touched to the core   
that even in death Akira had lived up to his teachings and his   
principles. Mars tried to work the infant out, then stopped instantly.   
The baby was cold to the touch and rigid. A tear fell from Sailor Mars.   
"If he did manage to save her, she probably died of exposure."  
  
Working diligently, but with a heavy heart, Sailor Mars cleared   
enough rubble away from Akira's body to allow her to drag him into a   
clear area. Rolling him on his back, she stood at his feet, closed her   
eyes and looked down.  
  
"Burning Mandala," she whispered out of respect.   
  
The enchanted circle of flame surrounded Akira's remains. At   
first only steam rose from the frozen body. But the relentless flame   
eventually overcame the frost that held Akira and his remains were   
quickly engulfed in a pyre.  
  
"Go to your ancestors," Sailor Mars whispered, head bowed. Tears   
poured down her face and she did nothing to stop them. "Go content in   
the knowledge that you remained true to your teachings and your duty and   
that you graced this world," and Mars swallowed to regain control of her   
voice, "with your goodness. As I commit your remains to the   
purification of the fire, go in peace, gentle spirit."  
  
Her tender feelings washed away. Mars stood up and turned to her   
right. Another Frost Giant loomed, approaching the graveyard that had   
been Hikawa Shrine.  
  
"You want some of this?" Mars barked out angrily. "Come and get   
it!" The Frost Giant raised its hand. Sailor Mars steepled her index   
fingers. "Fire Soul!" she called out.  
  
The fireball exploded into the giant. It reeled back, visibly   
damaged. A thick plume of steam rose from the wounded giant. When the   
steam dissipated, Mars could see the results of her actions. The giant   
stood, ravaged and disfigured from where the fireball had hit it. It   
was clearly weaker, particularly in the head and chest area. Another   
strike might take it down. It was doubtful the giant could survive two.  
  
"Mars!" Sailor Mars snapped, her hand rigid and splayed at her   
side. "Flame Sniper!" Eschewing one attack for another, she summoned   
the flaming bow and arrow. Taking deadly aim at a point between the   
indentations that served at the ice beast's eyes, Mars prepared to fire.   
The Frost Giant raised a weakened hand to try to blast her with its cold   
power.  
  
Suddenly Mars whirled and let fly behind her. The arrow struck   
the second Frost Giant coming up from her rear. Driving deep into the   
crust of the giant's forehead, the arrow drove it back, its arms   
pin-wheeling. Pulling out another ward, Mars invoked the sacred prayer   
and let fly. The ward struck the giant where the shaft had before,   
leaving the great ice giant blind and groping for purchase.  
  
A frigid blast struck Mars from behind. It was weakened, though,   
and allowed Mars to summon another fireball. The inferno struck the   
disfigured Frost Giant and it twisted away in pain.   
  
"What's keeping this monster up!" fumed Mars, her chest heaving.   
"This is for desecrating the memory of my Grandfather! Fire Soul!"  
  
The fireball struck the Frost Giant chest high and it pitched   
backwards onto the side of the hill. The body slid into the street,   
knocking aside frozen cars and people before it came to rest at a bus   
stop.  
  
Turning back to the other one, Mars saw it had finally divested   
itself of the ward. The Frost Giant was just meters away from her,   
looming up as if to engulf her in a bone-chilling blast of arctic cold.   
Undaunted, Mars once more summoned the fire to do her bidding.  
  
"Fiery Perdition!" she shouted.  
  
The huge wall of fire shot up at point blank range, surrounding   
the Frost Giant. The giant recoiled, the wall carving deeply into the   
creature's icy body. Again steam blanketed the area and turned into a   
gentle fog upon contact with the cold air. It was almost like Mercury   
had turned Shabon Spray loose. Unwilling to wait for the fog to clear,   
Mars used her eyes and her sight to get a fix on the giant.  
  
"Mars!" she cried. "Flame Sniper!"  
  
The arrow pierced the veil of fog and struck the creature in its   
squat neck. Again recoiling in pain, the beast caught another arrow in   
its chest and a third in its arm. Wounded and reeling, the giant was no   
match for Mars' last arrow. It pierced the skull through the eye,   
spinning the giant back and sending it down the embankment next to the   
stairs.  
  
On the verge of exhaustion, chest heaving, Mars watched the   
monster fall out of sight. She turned and scanned the horizon. Through   
the fog, she could make out three more Frost Giants lumbering across   
Tokyo from the park, each one headed for the remains of Hikawa Shrine.  
  
Another might have become dispirited. This only made Sailor Mars   
mad.  
  
"Bring them all on!" she shouted defiantly, holding her flaming   
bow. "I'll take you all down if I have to!"  
* * * *  
Sailor Mercury made her way down the frozen street toward the park   
with deliberate yet cautious haste, with Luna and Artemis on her heels.   
Though it was infinitely clear that one or more Frost Giants had passed   
through this section of the city, more came out of the temporal rift as   
fast as possible. Since she didn't want to accidentally run into more,   
she moved with care and had her visor on to measure temperature changes.   
And in moments her precautions proved to be warranted.  
  
"Hold on," Mercury called out, stopping the cats in their tracks.   
"I'm detecting a sudden downward shift in the area mean temperature."  
  
"Frost Giant?" Artemis asked.  
  
"That would be my estimation," Mercury answered. "I think it   
might be prudent to backtrack to the alley and cut over to the next   
street."  
  
"I hate losing the time," grumbled Artemis. "Every minute we lose   
means another Frost Giant that we have to deal with."  
  
"If only Sailor Moon were here," Luna mused.  
  
"I feel the same way, Luna," Mercury told her. "But she's not and   
we three don't have the firepower to take one of those things on. Our   
logical course is to close off that rift. That will buy time for the   
others, perhaps even allow Sailor Moon to recover enough to help."  
  
"Yeah, I don't think clawing that thing's face is going to do   
much," Artemis quipped. Not hearing a response from Luna, he turned and   
saw Luna stopped, licking at her back haunch. "Luna! Worry about your   
fur later!"  
  
"Go on without me if you must!" she said between licks. "I simply   
must tend to this!"  
  
"You look beautiful! Now come on!"  
  
Luna was about to respond when a shadow fell over the street. All   
three turned to the intersection and saw a Frost Giant towering there,   
about a half kilometer away. The Frost Giant stared right at them, then   
took a lumbering step forward that covered a quarter of the distance   
between them.  
  
"Oh, gracious!" gasped Luna. She sped forward, trying to make the   
alley before the Frost Giant could reach them. Her eyes widened when   
she saw Artemis head for her. "Artemis, get away! Get to safety! I'll   
make it!"  
  
Unseen by Luna, the giant was nearly upon her and had its hand   
raised to project another cold blast.   
  
"Sparkling Tsunami!" shouted Sailor Mercury.   
  
Instantly a thick driving snowstorm struck the Frost Giant full in   
the face. Recoiling, its first response was to blast the attack with   
its cold. This only served to freeze the pelting snowflakes into larger   
clumps of ice that in turn froze themselves to the giant's face, arms   
and upper body. When the attack died away, the giant was struggling to   
free itself from a cocoon of inanimate ice around its upper body and   
head.  
  
"Nice going, Mercury!" Artemis exclaimed.  
  
"We really should go!" Mercury warned. "I doubt it will hold for   
very long!"  
  
"I'm terribly sorry my vanity put us all in danger, Mercury," Luna   
apologized.  
  
"I doubt it saw you that far away," Mercury replied. "What's more   
likely is that these giants can sense heat sources. It was attracted to   
our body heat more than any movement you made."  
  
"You mean I've still got some body heat?" quipped Artemis.  
  
"As for you," Luna began, padding over to Artemis, "when I tell   
you to leave me and save yourself, you do it!"  
  
"Sorry, gorgeous," Artemis grinned, licking her whiskers, "did you   
just say something?" Luna gave him a cynical grin.  
  
And a loud explosion rocked the air as ice cracked and fragments   
crashed to the frozen pavement. The Frost Giant rose up to full height   
and once again focused on the trio. Mercury and the cats were about to   
turn and run, but Luna detected a faint whistle.  
  
A red rose hurled through the air and embedded itself in the   
temple of the Frost Giant. The impact staggered the monster, while the   
rose itself seemed to leave the creature dazed and confused. It   
staggered to one side, flattening a van, before it caught itself against   
the side of a building. An arm seemed to grasp at nothing sluggishly.  
  
"Look!" gasped Sailor Mercury. "It's Tuxedo Mask!"  
  
Leaping from atop a building, cape flowing majestically behind   
him, Tuxedo Mask hurled at the ice monster. His walking stick was out   
and he brandished it above his head like a samurai about to behead a   
foe. The distance was incalculable, yet Tuxedo Mask traversed it. The   
odds were incredible, yet he leaped without fear. The task was   
impossible, but it did not stop him. When he reached the Frost Giant,   
the walking stick came down with enough force that the giant's head   
exploded into bits. He landed on the beheaded giant's shoulder as the   
giant teetered against the building. Finally the body could resist the   
pull of gravity no longer and toppled forward. Tuxedo Mask rode it down   
until it was almost to the ground, then somersaulted forward and away   
from it to gracefully land on his feet.  
  
"Tuxedo Mask, that was amazing!" gasped Mercury as she and the   
cats ran up.  
  
"You looked like you could use a little help," he said, smiling   
easily as if he'd just returned her hat.  
  
"Usagi?" Luna gasped. "How is she?"  
  
"Stable," Tuxedo Mask reassured her. "Let's go save her world for   
her, huh?"  
  
Mercury and the cats nodded and they were off again.  
* * * *  
Kenji felt Usagi tense up. Her eyes flew open and he leaned in.  
  
"Princess?" he asked, concerned. Ikuko flew to his side. "Is   
something wrong?"  
  
"Mamo-chan," she whispered. Then she relaxed. "No, he's all   
right." She looked up to her parents. "Sorry if I scared you."  
  
"Is Mamoru out dealing with those - - things?" Ikuko inquired.  
  
"Yes," Usagi said. Some of her strength and color was back and   
that buoyed her parents. Kenji felt Usagi squeeze his hand.  
  
"He'll be all right, Princess," Kenji reassured her. "You just   
rest and get well."  
  
Usagi nodded and seemed to settle back into the mattress. Kenji   
stroked her forehead and stared down protectively toward her. She was   
almost asleep. Then suddenly she sat up in bed. It was the most   
physical activity she'd seemed capable of since being poisoned.  
  
"Princess?" Kenji asked, upset by her sudden display.  
  
"Usagi, what is it?" Ikuko asked. "Are you in pain."  
  
Usagi just stared ahead at nothing. Her eyes were wide and   
fearful.  
  
Continued in chapter 5 


	5. A World Without Love

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 5: "A World Without Love"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Usagi?" hissed Ikuko desperately. She had witnessed her daughter   
suddenly sit up in bed, where before she'd had no such strength, and   
stare off in horror at nothing. "Usagi, what's wrong?"  
  
Usagi didn't respond. Instead, with unsure hands she pulled the   
sheets from her and stepped tentatively onto the floor.  
  
"Princess, you're still sick!" Kenji said protectively, instantly   
at her side when her legs wobbled beneath her ever so imperceptibly.   
"Don't try to walk just yet!"  
  
"It's Rei," Usagi whispered, staring ahead with a stricken   
expression. "She needs help."  
  
"Call one of the others," Kenji insisted.  
  
"Daddy, you can't expect me to ignore this, can you?" Usagi gasped   
in shock.   
  
"You can't help her if you over-extend yourself and collapse!"   
Ikuko said insistently.   
  
"Moon Eternal Make-Up!" Usagi said, as if her parents hadn't said   
anything. They both fell back a few steps and stared in awe, having   
never witnessed their daughter transform herself into Sailor Moon. It   
was a wondrous sight and, despite their misgivings, both of them were   
amazed by the occurrence. Although lightheaded, the energy of Sailor   
Moon and the Silver Crystal seemed to be enough to get her going.   
"Please stay here," she told her parents. "You'll be safer here."  
  
"I still think this is a mistake," Ikuko said, clasping Sailor   
Moon's hand in hers. "But I know that look - - you're not going to   
listen to anything I'm going to say. Please, please be careful. Don't   
try to do too much too fast. Your father and I don't want to spend the   
rest of our lives mourning you."  
  
"I'll come back," Sailor Moon smiled, leaning over and kissing her   
mother. "Everything'll be OK."  
  
"Be safe," Kenji told her. "And remember, no matter what happens,   
you'll always be my little girl."  
  
"Thank you, Daddy," Sailor Moon said, kissing him. Then she   
hurried out of the room before she started crying - - or betrayed to   
them just how weak she felt.  
  
As she headed for the exit, Sailor Moon could feel her body   
drawing more and more energy from the Silver Crystal to keep going. It   
was a concern for her, but she shunted it aside and focused on Rei. All   
she'd received was a flash of agony, as if Rei had suddenly unexpectedly   
been struck down. She didn't know how badly and she really didn't want   
to know. She just wanted to ride to the rescue because she didn't want   
anything to happen to one of her dear friends. So far it had been the   
first inkling that one of the inner senshi had run into danger and she   
wanted it to be the last.  
  
Her heart beating far harder than she thought it could, Sailor   
Moon dashed out the front entrance of the hospital and directly into the   
path of a Frost Giant. Sailor Moon skidded to a stop and stared up in   
amazement, for it was the first time she'd encountered such a thing.   
The giant was enormous, a gigantic shambling ice man with blocky arms,   
blocky legs and a furrowed blob of a head. Sensing something not   
frozen, the Frost Giant bent down and extended its huge hand, preparing   
to unleash bitter cold at Sailor Moon. Her hand went to her mouth and   
her eyes widened. Sailor Moon stared up in shock - - one might say   
frozen in place.  
  
And at once a red rose that whizzed through the air struck the   
creature's wrist. The rose embedded itself by the stem deep into the   
ice. The hand flinched back, evading the swing of Tuxedo Mask's walking   
stick. Its other hand grasped at the injured wrist, trying without   
success to pluck or rub the offending rose from its body. Tuxedo Mask   
somehow landed with the dexterity of a great cat by Sailor Moon. He   
gathered her up in his arms, staring intently at her through his white   
mask.  
  
"Tuxedo Mask," Sailor Moon sighed in relief.  
  
"Usako!" he gasped. "What are you doing out of bed?"  
  
"It's Rei!" she wailed. "Something's wrong with Rei!"  
  
Pivoting suddenly, Tuxedo Mask turned to protect Sailor Moon. He   
brought up his cloak as a shield, for the Frost Giant was flailing   
wildly with his undamaged hand, projecting freezing cold over the façade   
of the hospital. The hand turned down, catching the pair in its icy   
blast. Gathering his wife effortlessly in his arms, Tuxedo Mask bounded   
away from the monster. As he passed, Tuxedo Mask lashed out at the   
creature's shin with his walking stick. Broken pieces of ice sprayed   
out from the creature's leg and the great ice thing toppled over onto   
the street. Sailor Moon turned back to see if the Frost Giant was   
pursuing them.  
  
With great difficulty, due to a useless arm and a wounded leg, the   
Frost Giant worked its great frame up to its knees. Whether from pique   
or from a misguided attempt to halt their flight, the Frost Giant swung   
its good arm at them. The ploy was doomed to failure, and at a tragic   
cost. The giant's arm crashed into the brittle side of the hospital,   
sending the entire wing collapsing down in a twisted heap of metal,   
plaster, cement and ice.  
  
"NO!" screamed Sailor Moon, wide-eyed with horror.  
  
Instantly her body flared with silver-white energy. Tuxedo Mask   
was knocked away from her and skidded to a stop two meters away. Sailor   
Moon hovered over the ground as the energy built to critical mass in   
seconds. When it could build no longer, the energy shot out from her   
body. It struck the Frost Giant and atomized the creature as it tried   
to rise. The energy gone, Sailor Moon crumpled like paper and fell to   
the icy ground in a heap. Though shaken and sore from the impact of   
both the energy and the ground, Tuxedo Mask was by her side in moments.   
He cradled his wife's limp body in his arms, his throat dry and his   
heart racing.  
  
"Usako?" he cried, stroking her face. "Say something!"  
  
Tears began streaming down Sailor Moon's face. Her delicate   
features twisted up in agony and her small body began to shake with the   
tremors of despair.  
  
"They're dead, Mamo-chan!" Sailor Moon sobbed. "Mom and Dad are   
dead! They were in the hospital, waiting for me!"  
  
"Maybe there's still hope," he offered gamely. She only shook her   
head.  
  
"They're dead, Mamo-chan!" she wailed. "I know! They're dead! I   
felt their screams!"  
  
Tuxedo Mask cradled Sailor Moon to his chest, holding her as she   
cried bitterly. He stroked her yellow hair and tried somehow to give   
her the comfort he knew she needed.  
  
"I know just how you feel, Usako," he whispered to her, holding   
her tightly. "Let it out."  
  
"You're all I have left," Sailor Moon cried. She was weak as a   
kitten again and could only lay against her husband's chest and sob.   
"You and Shingo and the senshi."   
  
"Usako," Tuxedo Mask said, trying to pull her attention away from   
the deep mourning she felt over the sudden death of her parents - -   
anything to avoid seeing her cry. "You mentioned something about Rei.   
Something about her being in trouble?"  
  
"Rei! Mamo-chan, you have to get to her! I can't lose her, too!   
I just can't!"  
  
"And leave you? I can't do that."  
  
Sailor Moon turned back to the rubble that had been the hospital   
wing, the rubble that contained the bodies of her parents. Her lip   
trembled like she wanted to weep again, but finally found something   
solid to cling to and turned back to him.  
  
"Then I'll come with you," she whispered sadly. "I-I guess I   
can't do anything for Mom and Dad now. Rei needs our help."  
  
"Are you strong enough?" he asked cautiously. "You were weak to   
start with and that energy discharge . . .?"  
  
"I'll make it," she replied, struggling to escape his embrace and   
gain her feet. "I have to! Rei needs me! They all need me!"  
  
Reluctantly Tuxedo Mask helped Sailor Moon to her feet. Nearly   
dragging him, she forced them both in the general direction of Hikawa   
Shrine.  
  
"Here," Tuxedo Mask said after a while, pulling Sailor Moon to a   
stop. "You need to conserve your strength."  
  
With little difficulty, Tuxedo Mask whisked Sailor Moon up in his   
arms. Shooting into the air, propelled by impossibly strong legs, he   
carried Sailor Moon up to the roof of a nearby intact building. No   
sooner did he land than he leaped again, traversing five times the   
normal distance an unburdened human could. Sailor Moon started to   
protest, but a wave of fatigue stilled her.  
  
"Look at everything," she moaned as they passed over caved in   
buildings and frozen people. "This is so horrible! All of those poor   
people, frozen. All of those people trapped inside those buildings!   
Why? Why are they doing this?"  
  
"The others figured out that this invasion is some sort of   
prophecy," Tuxedo Mask struggled to answer. "Some sort of ultimate test   
for humanity and its guardians."  
  
"But why?" Sailor Moon persisted. "Why can't they just let us   
live in peace?"  
  
"I don't know," Tuxedo Mask told her. "There are some people who   
just can't stand to see other people at peace."  
  
As they passed through the shopping district, Tuxedo Mask suddenly   
felt his wife tense up.  
  
"Land, Mamo-chan!" she cried out. "Please!"  
  
Obeying, he landed them in the middle of the street in the center   
of the district. Looking at his wife, Tuxedo Mask saw her staring   
mutely at the remains of a row of shops in the district. The district   
was quite familiar to him. It was here, on this street twenty years ago   
that he first met the girl he dubbed "Odango Atama", the girl that would   
change his life. He also recognized the remains she stared at. It was   
Osa-P, the jewelry shop owned by the mother of her friend, Naru.   
Without warning, Sailor Moon turned and buried her face in his chest.  
  
"Not Naru, too!" she wailed, seemingly moments away from crumbling   
into fragments in his arms. "Oh Mamo-chan, it's like a nightmare!"  
  
He put his arm around her. "We have to go," he said. "We have to   
stop them before anyone else is hurt." He felt her nod on his chest and   
began to walk her away from the shop.  
  
However, Tuxedo Mask chose the wrong direction to walk her to.   
Further on down the street was yet another horrific sight. He stopped   
in surprise and distaste and his actions alerted Sailor Moon. She   
looked up and saw what he saw. Sailor Neptune, frozen as if dead, her   
mirror outstretched before her. At her feet, face bend to her knees,   
was Sailor Uranus. She was just as frozen and just as motionless.   
Tuxedo Mask felt Sailor Moon's knees buckle.  
  
"No, no, no!" she cried. Sailor Moon lunged for them and had to   
be restrained by Tuxedo Mask. "Not them, too! Let me go, let me go! I   
have to help them!"  
  
"Then they are alive?" he asked, amazed.  
  
Sailor Moon turned back to him, her face awash with confusion.   
Clearly she'd sensed it on a sub-conscious level that hadn't registered   
consciously. He released her and Sailor Moon staggered forward. She   
got to within less than a meter of them and, on wobbly legs, summoned   
the Moon Tier. Her eyes closed and she summoned the power from within   
her to free Uranus and Neptune from their icy shrouds.   
  
Nothing happened. Sailor Moon seemed to list slightly as she   
strained to summon the healing power that was her birthright. Then she   
pitched forward and fell to her knees, the Moon Tier clattering on the   
frozen pavement. As always, Tuxedo Mask was instantly by her side.  
  
"Too weak," she moaned, her tears streaming hot and heavy once   
more. "I'm too weak! Haruka - - Michiru - - I'm sorry!"  
  
"Lean on me," her husband whispered to her. It did little to   
console her, but she did as she was bid.   
  
"I failed them," Sailor Moon continued to whimper. "Just like I   
failed Mom and Dad - - and Naru - - and like I'm going to fail   
Rei . . ."  
  
"You're still weak," Tuxedo Mask told her. "And there was nothing   
you could have done for Kenji and Ikuko, or any of the others in the   
hospital." He pulled her back to face him, looking into those big moist   
blue eyes so ravaged with physical and emotional pain. It tore him   
apart, but he persevered. "Death comes to all of us. You can use all   
of your power to forestall it and it will still come. It's the way of   
things."  
  
"It's my fault?" sniffed Sailor Moon.  
  
"No. No more than it is mine. Sometimes we can't save everybody,   
no matter how much it hurts."  
  
"It sounds like you're giving up?"  
  
"No!" he replied quickly. "We can't give up. Sailor Moon doesn't   
give up. She stays true to her beliefs to the end. I'm just telling   
you not to flail yourself because you can't save everybody. You're not   
a god. You're just one extraordinary woman fighting to keep love and   
justice and half pound candy bars safe in this world."  
  
Sailor Moon giggled in spite of her mood. She looked up at her   
husband and he could see the gratitude within. Her hopeful smile once   
more lit up Tuxedo Mask's life.  
  
"That's the girl I married," he said.  
  
"Thank you, Mamo-chan." Her smile dimmed. "But I'm going to miss   
them so."  
  
"I'm going to miss them, too. Kenji and Ikuko sort of replaced   
the parents I lost. In a way, it's like I've been orphaned twice."   
Seeing the tears welling again in her agonized eyes, Tuxedo Mask gently   
pulled Sailor Moon to her feet. "Come on. There's no time for tears.   
We have to help Rei. And when you're stronger, we can help Uranus and   
Neptune. If they haven't died yet, they'll stay alive until you're well   
enough to free them."  
  
"Mamo-chan?" Sailor Moon began timidly. "What if this is the end   
of everything?"  
  
He bent down and kissed her. She felt fragile beneath him, her   
lips cool and soft. As they embraced, he could feel her draw strength   
from him and he opened up to make it easy for her. She seemed to swell   
into his arms. When they parted, he looked down on her, docile and   
expectant.  
  
"If this is the end, I will ride to heaven with you, carried upon   
your gentle wings. Nothing will ever separate us again, Usako."  
  
Scooping her up in his arms, Tuxedo Mask bounded up to what   
rooftops remained. Sailor Moon snuggled in and turned to survey the   
devastation, all the while fighting the gnawing fatigue that was sapping   
her strength. Sickened by what she saw, she cast her eyes ahead.  
  
"Look," Sailor Moon pointed as Tuxedo Mask leaped up from another   
rooftop. "Look at those colors in the distance. It's like a rainbow,   
but different. Isn't that about where Hikawa Shrine is?"  
  
"Looks like it," Tuxedo Mask replied. "And that rainbow effect   
looks a little like the Aurora Borealis. Light refracting through the   
snow and ice crystals must be causing it. It has to be a pretty intense   
light source, though."  
  
"Like Rei," Sailor Moon intoned ominously.  
  
With no undamaged buildings left to land on, Tuxedo Mask carried   
his precious charge to the street, landing with gentle grace. The   
tableau here was unchanged from a growing number of other places in   
Tokyo: the rubble of caved in buildings, the congestion of frozen   
vehicles, and the horror of people and animals, once living, now stopped   
in their tracks and covered with ice. More than a few stared out   
through the ice sheaths with wide, uncomprehending eyes. And in the   
background was the steady, rhythmic thud of footsteps, footsteps that   
could only be made by something huge and heavy. The ground shook with   
every step.  
  
"I wish it would all stop!" cried Sailor Moon, grimacing and   
covering her ears. Tuxedo Mask listened.  
  
"More than one," he said. "I'd guess about five now. Some are   
far away. But there are a couple that are close."  
  
Suddenly Tuxedo Mask turned and fled for an alley, jerking Sailor   
Moon along behind him. Sailor Moon's head twisted to the side and saw a   
Frost Giant emerge from the next block up. It turned toward them,   
sensing their movement or their body heat. It raised a massive paw up,   
determined to snuff out the offending heat sources with a blast of   
frigid cold.  
  
They were almost to the alley when Sailor Moon fell. She didn't   
trip. Her legendary clumsiness didn't come into play. Legs weakened by   
her near death experience earlier just couldn't maintain the pace set by   
Tuxedo Mask. She plowed face first into the ice-covered sidewalk and   
skidded to a stop. Dazed, she looked up and saw, as she expected,   
Tuxedo Mask standing between her and the Frost Giant.  
  
"Tuxedo Mask, run!" she wailed.  
  
"Stay behind me!" he commanded.  
  
Using his cloak as a shield against the arctic blast, Tuxedo Mask   
produced a single rose and let it fly. The rose cleaved the air   
straight and true, but in the face of the arctic blast began to take on   
ice until it was covered. The ice slowed it to a stop, then gravity   
took it and sent it to the ground. Tuxedo Mask turned to the fallen   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"Get to safety when you can!" he told her. "I'll lead it away   
from you!"  
  
"Mamo-chan, don't!"  
  
"Get to safety!"  
  
And he was off. The Frost Giant hesitated for a moment, unsure as   
to whether to attack the moving target or the stationary one. Flinging   
another rose that the giant swatted away, Tuxedo Mask was able to   
convince the towering ice monster to follow him.  
  
"MAMO-CHAN!" Sailor Moon shrieked.   
  
Her love disappeared around a corner on the next block. Whipping   
herself mentally, Sailor Moon struggled to her feet. Her flagging   
strength nearly deserted her, but she managed to keep upright.   
Skittering along the ice on unsteady feet, Sailor Moon set out in   
pursuit of her beloved as fast as she could manage. All thoughts of   
everyone and everything else vanished from her mind. She had only a   
single thought: find her husband. If it took her last ounce of   
strength, she would find him.  
  
Down one block, up another, each one a different arrangement of   
the same pattern of hopelessness, Sailor Moon continued on. Guided only   
by her connection to him, she pressed on. Her heart pounded in her   
chest. Her lungs were raw and savaged by the exertion and the cold air.   
Her legs seemed to grow more watery with every step, but she pressed on.   
Desperate to find him, she turned a corner - - and found him.  
  
He was frozen solid, his hand extended with a fist full of roses   
that never managed to leave his hand. The Frost Giant stood over him.   
It must have only happened seconds ago. Sailor Moon stared. Her mind   
threatened to collapse.  
  
"Mamo-chan!" she shrieked, running to his side. Sailor Moon   
embraced his cold body, staring up at his frozen face, trying to will it   
away. "Mamo-chan, Mamo-chan! Please don't leave me!"  
  
Then she turned on the Frost Giant. It took a step back,   
surprised by her movements, perhaps knowing what she had earlier done to   
its brother giant. But she raised her hands not in attack, but in   
supplication.  
  
"Please," she begged, her blue eyes large and tearful. "Please   
let him go! Please stop this! It's not right! It's not right you   
should do this! Please let him go! He means everything to me!"  
  
As Sailor Moon begged, the Frost Giant looked down on her with   
mute curiosity. It made no sign that it understood her words or her   
actions. Yet something about her caused it to halt, to stare, to   
consider her heartfelt pleas. Sailor Moon looked up at him, her voice   
fallen to a whisper due to her emotional state. She tried to see   
something in this giant that said she had managed to touch it, to reach   
it. It stared at her for the longest time.  
  
Then it raised its hand and let loose a blast of cold.  
  
Continued in chapter 6 


	6. Holding On To What Matters

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 6: "Holding On to What Matters"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
The huge lumbering monster of ice loomed over them like a   
skyscraper, obliterating the sun and casting them into darkness. What   
little heat that still could be drawn from the sun in this artificially   
induced deep freeze was blocked and the cold winds whipped under their   
skirts and blew their hair. Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter stood their   
ground on the playground of an elementary school now frozen over and   
lifeless. They glanced to each other and nodded, prepared to obliterate   
their adversary or go down fighting.  
  
"Exploding Golden Kiss!" bellowed Sailor Venus.  
  
"Supreme Thunder!" roared Sailor Jupiter.  
  
Lightning struck from the cloudy sky, the clouds formed by the   
cold conditions. Conducted even more rapidly by the cold, the bolt   
struck the rod on Jupiter's tiara and exploded out from her. The energy   
was joined to the golden energy burst fired from Venus and shot toward   
the Frost Giant with the speed of thought. It barely had time to   
register the attack before it was struck chest high. The energy burst   
exploded with the force of a bomb while volts of electricity passed   
through the great frame of ice, sizzling and spitting as the heat it   
generated melted the outer layer of ice and caused the formed water to   
pop.  
  
The Frost Giant staggered back several paces, crushing the   
school's storage shed underfoot. Finally it righted itself and turned,   
wounded, to counterattack. Venus looked to Jupiter.  
  
"Got another one in you?" Venus asked.  
  
"Is there a choice?" Jupiter replied.  
  
Once more the power phrases echoed over the stilled neighborhood   
of Tokyo. Once more the electrified energy burst shot up and exploded   
into the Frost Giant. This time, though, Venus aimed higher and the   
beast took it directly in the face. The Frost Giant's head exploded out   
from the burst, chunks of ice scattering in all directions and ice water   
coating everything and freezing in seconds. The headless body stood   
there for a few moments, seemingly unaware that it was dead. Then the   
strong north winds pushed it just enough so that gravity was able to   
take over. It teetered, then toppled backwards like a felled tree,   
slamming into the barren playground. The ground shook upon impact.  
  
"Man," Jupiter gasped breathlessly. She was bend over, her hands   
propped up on her knees as fatigue spread through her. "I hope Usagi   
gets better soon! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"  
  
When no witty reply came from Venus, Jupiter assumed that she was   
just too tired to quip. Then she heard the faint sound of someone   
sniffing back tears. Jupiter rose to her full height and looked at her   
companion. Venus had her back to her. The woman's arms were folded   
across her middle and her head was down.  
  
"Venus?" Jupiter asked. "What is it?" Venus didn't turn to her.   
"Hey, don't give in to it, Venus. We'll beat 'em."  
  
"But will we beat them in time?" Venus whispered, her voice thick   
with emotion. "Look at this place. Kids used to play here. How many   
of them will still be alive when we beat these guys? How many are alive   
now?"  
  
"We can only do what we can," Jupiter offered. Her hand folded   
onto her friend's shoulder.   
  
"It's just," Venus said, shuddering, "I look at this place," and   
Venus turned to Jupiter and Jupiter saw she was crying. Jupiter   
couldn't remember the last time she saw Venus cry. "I look at this and   
what's been done to it, and I can't help but think of your kids."  
  
The mention of Akiko and Ichiro brought a pang of guilt to   
Jupiter.  
  
"Jupe, I love your kids," Venus said. "I've never had that much   
use for rugrats, but those two are different. They're special.   
Sometimes I find myself wishing they were mine and not yours. I mean,   
Ichiro's my guy. He's going to grow up to be some girl's dream guy - -   
I can already tell. And Akiko - - well she's my biggest fan! What kind   
of idol doesn't worry about her fans?"  
  
"They're all right," Jupiter replied, squeezing the shoulder she   
held. "San-San's with them. He'll protect them."  
  
"Who are you trying to convince, me or you?"  
  
"Well me, of course," Jupiter smiled. "Who cares about you?"  
  
"Yeah," Venus said, looking down with a pained smile. "Who cares   
about me?"  
  
"Venus," Jupiter tried to begin.  
  
"I'm sure Toshi doesn't - - assuming he's not . . ."  
  
"Stop this!" demanded Jupiter. "I care! And Usagi and Ami and   
Rei, they care! And all those teenagers out there who would give   
everything they owned just to touch you, they care! Your Dad and, yes,   
even your Mom, they care! And what about Artemis?"  
  
"Artemis," Venus said, growing mistier at the mention of his name.   
"I hope he's all right."  
  
"Come on, Venus. What's that saying you've always lived by?"  
  
"Chocolate is a girl's best friend?"  
  
"The other saying," smirked Jupiter. If Venus was quipping, she   
was coming out of it. "You know, 'tears don't suit Sailor V'."  
  
"Man, I wish Artemis had never come up with that. It's so hard to   
live up to sometimes." Venus expelled a big breath of air. "Sorry for   
getting all weepy on you. It's just - - you know how hard I've worked   
the last twenty years to get where I am. My life's not perfect, but I   
was just beginning to enjoy some of the fruit, you know? And now it's   
all crashing down around me and I'm afraid that I can't stop it!"  
  
"I know," grimaced Jupiter. "I've worked just as hard and I'm   
just as afraid. But all we can do is just keep fighting until Usagi can   
save the day. That's why we're here. That's why she's here."  
  
"Somebody seriously needs to rewrite this script!" scowled Venus.   
She expelled a tired sigh. "OK. Tear-Fest is over for this year.   
Let's go kick some frozen butt."  
  
"Let's," Jupiter smiled. The pair headed down the street,   
attracted by the thudding footsteps of a Frost Giant in the distance.  
  
"You know," Venus said as they moved, "I used to love ice cream.   
But I don't think I'll be able to look at it for a while now." Jupiter   
allowed herself a knowing grin.  
  
The two senshi moved from the business district toward the Ginza.   
The neon flash of the Ginza was dimmed, indicating that the electricity   
for the area was out. The telltale signs of a Frost Giant were   
everywhere.   
  
"Is there any part of Tokyo left unfrozen?" Jupiter mused.  
  
"Maybe the outlying residential districts," Venus replied grimly.   
"That's why we have to find these frosty creeps and stop them."  
  
At that moment, Jupiter got a signal on her senshi communicator.  
  
"Jupiter, are you there?" she heard Artemis ask desperately.  
  
"Artemis!" Venus gasped, grabbing Jupiter's wrist and pulling it   
to her mouth.  
  
"Venus!" gasped Artemis. Even through the electronic static, they   
could tell he was relieved. "When I couldn't raise you, . . ."   
  
"Little Kitty, I've been worried sick about your furry butt!"  
  
"Same here. Luna and I are with Sailor Mercury. We're in the   
park trying to figure a way to close this portal."  
  
"I'm betting on Mercury," grinned Jupiter.  
  
"Luna hasn't been able to contact Usagi. It may mean she's still   
out of it. We're hoping the Frost Giants haven't gotten the hospital."  
  
"Maybe we should head over there?" suggested Venus. "Keep her   
safe?"  
  
"Mamoru's with her. He can handle that. You two need to keep   
after the ones that are already here. There's no telling if the outer   
senshi are still in the fight and - - and we haven't been able to raise   
Rei."  
  
Venus and Jupiter shot worried glances to each other.  
  
"Acknowledge that," Venus said. "Good luck on your end. Watch   
your backside, cat."  
  
"Don't get too cocky, Venus. Artemis out."  
  
Venus glanced at Jupiter and grinned. "He's such a worrier."  
  
"I know the feeling," Jupiter admitted with a shy smile.   
"San-San's like that with me sometimes. It's really touching that he   
cares that much."  
  
The brow on Venus' forehead furrowed. "Using that comparison,   
that equation would make Artemis my . . ." She stopped and shook her   
head. "Nope. Not going to go there."  
  
"Shh," Jupiter said. "I'm trying to listen for something."  
  
Venus listened. "What?"  
  
Jupiter shot her friend a wicked smile. "I'm trying to hear if   
the wind's whistling through your ears."  
  
Venus scowled, then pulled down her eyelid. Jupiter smirked.  
  
The pair walked past a deserted nightclub. The large picture   
windows in front were frosted over and opaque.  
  
"I sang there about fifteen years ago," Venus said, pointing to   
the shabby dive. "What a dump. It actually looks better with the ice."  
  
"I remember," Jupiter said.  
  
"That place was a hole! When were you ever in there?" Venus   
gaped.  
  
"About fifteen years ago." Venus stared in shock. "Usagi rounded   
the gang up and we came down to see you. We were all in the audience."  
  
"Why didn't you come back stage after the show?"  
  
"Well, while we were trying to watch the show, several of the   
slimy guys that were in that place tried to pick us up. It got to the   
point where I had to punch one guy's lights out."  
  
"That was you?" howled Venus. "I thought it was just the usual   
drunks! I was so mad for having my set interrupted! Now I'm sorry I   
thought all those nasty things. You still should have come backstage,   
though."  
  
"Well, when your show ended, Rei kind of insisted we get out of   
the place while we still had our clothes."  
  
"Aw, I'm sorry I missed you." Venus walked silently. "Did you   
like the show?"  
  
"It was OK."  
  
"Just OK?"  
  
"Venus, remember what time period we're talking about. You were   
just starting out. Back then, you were more energetic than good."  
  
"Everybody's a critic," Venus scowled.  
  
"I'll say this for you," Jupiter added, patting her friend on the   
back. "You were definitely too classy for the club."  
  
"Big deal," shrugged Venus. "So were the cockroaches."  
  
The pair continued to follow the path of ice and destruction. It   
led out of the main part of the Ginza and into another retail district.   
They could tell they were getting close because the lumbering footfalls   
of a Frost Giant echoed through the cavernous retail district,   
disturbing the eerie silence of the now frozen wasteland.  
  
"Kind of reminds me of D-Point," Venus commented out of the blue.   
"Hope the result's not exactly the same as that time. I've 'died' way   
too many times for my tastes."  
  
Jupiter didn't answer. Venus started to look over to her   
companion, but suddenly Jupiter shoved past her and ran across the icy   
street to a cluster of figures frozen in front of an electronics shop.  
  
"Jupe?" Venus cried out after her. When it didn't stop Jupiter,   
Venus broke into a run after her.  
  
She found Jupiter standing next to the frozen form of a man.   
Jupiter was staring at the frozen man as if in shock, tears streaming   
down her face. Her gloved hand lightly stroked the ice over the man's   
cheek. Venus tried to see through the ice to see who it was. He looked   
vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place him.  
  
"Who is he, Jupe?" Venus asked. Jupiter just continued to stare,   
stricken to her core. "Do you know him?"  
  
"It's Shinozaki," she whispered.  
  
"The guy you were childhood friends with?"  
  
"I failed him," Jupiter whispered in anguish. "After all the   
times he looked out for me, when he needed me I wasn't there!"  
  
"You haven't failed him yet," Venus told her. Jupiter only shook   
her head with rage. "What were you just telling me? They haven't won   
yet! We find these things, we kick their butts and then Usagi turns   
everything back to normal!"  
  
"And what if they've already got her?" Jupiter asked fearfully.   
"What if it's too late for poor Shinozaki? What if it's too late for   
- - for San-San and the kids? What if it's too late for all of us?"  
  
Venus tried to summon some off-the-cuff quip and failed.  
  
"Then we die fighting," Venus said soberly.  
  
Jupiter stared into her friend's eyes like she was trying to read   
her mind. Her mouth hardened. Her tears subsided. Jupiter nodded   
resolutely and stormed off. Venus quickly fell in behind her. She knew   
Jupiter long enough to know when her anger had gotten the better of her.   
Jupiter was ready for a fight and she was enough of a bulldog to not let   
go of whatever she latched onto until either her foe was dead or she   
was. Venus came with her to try to tip the odds in her favor.  
  
It wasn't difficult to hear the approach of the Frost Giant. It's   
lumbering footsteps echoed even louder the closer it got. Jupiter   
continued to march resolutely toward the sound. Venus wondered if   
they'd just crossed paths from fate or if the giant was actually seeking   
them out. If it was the latter, she was ready. Better they take it on   
now rather than have to walk further. It still wasn't any easier to   
walk on ice in high heels.  
  
And suddenly Jupiter began to speed up, breaking into a run toward   
the sound of the giant's footsteps.  
  
"A kamikaze run!" Venus thought. She broke into a run after her   
friend, but Jupiter had always been faster and had a head start.  
  
The giant turned the corner and faced them. It took a moment,   
towering over them like a skyscraper, to register where they were.   
Jupiter kept running toward it, the rod on her tiara crackling with   
building electrical energy. The giant raised up its hand to attack   
Jupiter with its frost power.  
  
"Exploding Golden Kiss!" yelled Venus, launching a burst of   
energy.  
  
It soared up, striking the hand of the Frost Giant. Chunks of ice   
burst from the hand and the giant recoiled back. Venus smiled, because   
it would give Jupiter enough time now to launch a lightning strike.  
  
Then her mouth dropped and her eyes widened. Stepping from behind   
the first Frost Giant was another one. They had been traveling   
together, marching in cadence so as not to betray their number. The   
second giant raised its hand to strike Jupiter and Venus knew she   
couldn't get another shot off in time.  
  
Undaunted, Jupiter continued in, gathering electrical energy into   
her until she could hold no more.  
  
"Supreme Thunder!" she roared.  
  
A discharge of electricity so massive that it turned the immediate   
area white with light expelled from Jupiter. Venus was forced to turn   
her eyes or be blinded. A massive clap of thunder came from the   
superheated air molecules around them. It was so loud that every window   
in the area shattered. Venus could smell the thick ozone contaminating   
the air around them. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a   
second, smaller pop just after the first. It could have been an echo.   
She wasn't sure.  
  
When the light died away, Venus risked a glimpse. The front Frost   
Giant's head and upper torso was shorn away, splattered all over the   
shops and street behind it. The remains teetered and swayed, waiting   
for gravity to take it by the hand and fling it down. The back giant,   
scorched by the blast that killed its partner, was in the process of   
freezing Sailor Jupiter in place.  
  
"NO!" cried Venus. "Exploding Golden Kiss!"  
  
The burst of energy shot up with the speed of thought and exploded   
against the giant's arm and upper body. It rocked back a step, then   
resumed freezing Jupiter. Already the senshi's body was rigid and ice   
was forming around her.  
  
"Exploding Golden Kiss!" Venus bellowed again.  
  
She ran forward, both to cut the distance between them and   
increase the impact of her energy bursts, and to try to somehow protect   
Jupiter with her proximity. The burst shot up and rocked the giant   
again. However, it kept its feet and resumed freezing Jupiter.  
  
"FALL, DAMN YOU! EXPLODING GOLDEN KISS!"  
  
The third blast took a lot out of her. Venus felt a momentary   
blackout. The next thing she knew she was on her hands and knees less   
than a meter from Jupiter. She looked up. Jupiter was frozen solid,   
her antennae up and her teeth clenched in defiant fury. Venus felt her   
chest heaving and her heart hammering in her chest. She didn't know if   
she had another energy burst left in her.  
  
Then the freezing waves struck her and she knew she didn't have   
any choice. Pushing herself up to where she was just on her knees,   
Venus pointed with a shaking arm.  
  
"E-E-Exp-p-plod-d-ding G-g-golden K-k-kissssss!" Venus said,   
barely forcing the words out. Her mouth didn't want to work and she was   
so cold.  
  
The golden energy burst shot up and struck the giant about   
shoulder high. She knew just from the feel of it and from the giant's   
reaction that it wasn't a full strength burst. Still it was enough to   
rock the beast back and interrupt the waves of bitter cold.  
  
"Come on, girlfriend," shuddered Venus. "This is your chance.   
Get cover and kick that monster's butt!"  
  
But the bitter cold seemed to drain the strength from her. She   
already had no feeling in her legs and fingers. The cold air was like   
breathing in razor blades every time she took a breath. Forcing herself   
forward, Venus crawled toward a mound of ice that covered a potted plant   
on the street. If only she could get some cover from the freezing   
waves . . .  
  
But the cold struck her again. Venus fell onto her face and just   
lay there. Her arms flexed to try to push back up, but there was no   
strength left to her. She was losing feeling everywhere. Consciousness   
was fading.  
  
"Ace," she whispered deliriously, "I love you - - but you're still   
a rotten bastard."  
  
And Venus sank into oblivion.  
  
Continued in Chapter 7 


	7. Not With A Bang

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 7: "Not With A Bang"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
It seemed like an eternity - - a grim jest to the senshi of time   
- - but Sailor Pluto finally was within sight of Juuban Park, the place   
where it all began. She had fought difficult odds: arctic conditions,   
two separate Frost Giants barring her path at different points, and the   
ominous trepidation that came with seeing a terrible vision of the   
future unfold before her. Sailor Pluto was no stranger to cataclysmic   
futures - - she'd seen many over the short time her power and sight had   
evolved her into the senshi of time. It was part of why her mood was   
so melancholy.   
  
But to watch one of them actually come to pass, seemingly helpless   
to forestall it, was almost too much.  
  
"It is not impossible," Pluto whispered to herself, her lips   
chapped by the biting cold of the air. "You have seen futures, futures   
that are bright and rosy and full of hope. You have seen futures beyond   
this day that are not bleak and empty. Have courage. It can all still   
be made right."  
  
She slogged on through the ice and snow, her Time Staff acting as   
a walking stick to support her. The icy wind whipped under her skirt   
and blew her long black-green hair.   
  
"Do not surrender," she continued. "Do not let 'him' win."  
  
The thought of Janus once again made her heart ache. All of this   
had come to pass because she had foolishly fallen in love with him. Her   
feelings had blinded her to his real intentions and allowed this harsh   
situation to come to pass. Perhaps he had really loved her. Perhaps   
that hadn't been just one more lie, one more truth concealed for   
expediency. It didn't really matter, for in the end he had betrayed   
her. Loyalty to his King and his creed were more important to him than   
she was.  
  
"Is this why you are so wounded?" Pluto mused. "Is it because he   
poisoned your Princess and plunged your world into chaos - - or because   
he loved something more than you?" She forced herself on. "I was   
correct to mistrust falling in love. The pain is just too great."  
  
She tried to dismiss Janus from her mind, to concentrate on the   
task at hand. But Pluto found herself remembering the touch of his hand   
on her cheek, and how it made her flush with excitement. She found   
herself recalling the look of adoration he had in his eyes as he gazed   
at her, how it made her feel special and beautiful.   
  
Pluto stopped in her tracks. She found herself missing him, even   
as she cursed him, and she found herself shuddering at the memory that   
she had been the instrument of his destruction.  
  
"No," she whispered. "Not destruction - - execution."  
  
Atonement was required, as Janus had atoned with his very life.   
She would stop this invasion, if it cost her own life. It was a small   
price.  
  
Perhaps then the hurt would stop.  
  
Sailor Pluto shuffled through the snow and ice to the entrance to   
the park. Her limbs were tired. The cold was having an effect, even on   
the heightened durability of a senshi of the Crystal Kingdom. The skin   
of her thighs felt numb and the Time Staff seemed twice as heavy as   
normal. But she would not falter. She knew, through her unobstructed   
vision of all history that all the other senshi were incapacitated save   
Sailor Mercury. The fate of the world rested upon her and Mercury - -   
perhaps only her. With the frigid air cutting into her lungs, Pluto   
pressed on. She reached out and grasped the wrought iron gate to steady   
herself and push herself forward.  
  
Upon contact with the gate, a jolt passed through Sailor Pluto.   
It was so strong that it knocked her to her knees. The Time Staff   
clattered to the icy sidewalk beside her. Pluto stared, her mouth open   
and her left hand clutching at her throat. Breath came grudgingly and,   
if she had strength left, had no nervous system to take advantage of it.  
  
Events poured through her eyes and into her brain, a kaleidoscope   
of images from divergent futures. The bombardment of her brain was so   
constant and so intense that Sailor Pluto feared she would drown, sink   
into a churning sea of madness and never return. She struggled to right   
herself, to bob to the surface and grab hold of something that might   
anchor her to reality. She stared out at the frozen park, but didn't   
see. She knelt motionless in the cold snow and didn't feel. She wanted   
to scream, but couldn't find her mouth.  
  
And then a path appeared before her. It wasn't a path to safety.   
It was a path to the future that beckoned her. It seemed ominous, but   
it was a clear path in a jumble of twisting and turning possibilities   
and she followed it desperately.  
  
In the second it took to follow the path to its conclusion, Sailor   
Pluto knew. She knew how the future would unfold if and only if that   
path was followed. It depended upon her, who had seen the path, and   
upon others who had seen nothing and could not possibly know which act   
would move the world toward that future and which would bar it forever.  
  
Sailor Pluto allowed herself a calming breath. She picked up her   
staff and ascended slowly, guardedly, to her feet. Entering the stilled   
park, she headed for the pond and the temporal rift.  
* * * *  
"Are you going to make it, Luna?" Artemis asked, concern dripping   
from his raspy voice.  
  
"My pads are just so cold," Luna told him as the two cats followed   
Sailor Mercury to the park. "And my fur isn't designed to ward off this   
much cold. But I'll persevere, have no worries." She glanced over at   
Artemis. "You'll pardon my saying so, but you look quite a fright   
yourself."  
  
"Feel like I've been walking for ten years," the white cat   
replied, his breath freezing more crystals of ice onto his whiskers. "I   
don't remember the lake in the park being this far away." Luna nodded   
sympathetically. "Mercury, how are you doing?"  
  
"I've been better," Mercury replied modestly, slogging ahead   
through the ice and snow. The cats walked in her footprints to conserve   
energy. "If you'd like, you can both ride on my shoulder."  
  
"We're not that far gone," Luna told her.  
  
"Don't push yourself beyond your limits," Mercury warned in her   
physician's voice. "Frostbite can sneak up on you if you're not   
careful."  
  
"How much for the house call, Doc?" quipped Artemis.  
  
Luna, though, noticed Mercury's expression as she turned profile   
to check out the area on the left.  
  
"Mercury?" Luna asked. "Are you all right? You seem troubled."  
  
"Understandable, given the situation, don't you think?" Mercury   
replied guardedly.  
  
"Perhaps," Luna continued. "But we've all been in desperate   
situations before. We've come through them."  
  
"Yes," whispered Mercury, "because Usagi's been there. Usagi's   
not going to be there for us this time. She came too close to death.   
The body needs time to heal and regain strength. And it's time we don't   
have." Mercury let out a sigh. "I guess I'm worrying about how many of   
us are not going to come back from this one. And not just 'us' on the   
front lines - - I'm worried about Mother. She's not that young any   
longer and something like this could push her past her limits. And   
there's Hayami: This crisis could tax even the healthiest person and   
Hayami's far from the healthiest person in the world. We've only been   
married eight months, Luna. I don't want to bury him, certainly not   
this soon."  
  
"Then we'll just have to stop them," Luna replied firmly. "I know   
how you feel. I've things I'm fighting for as well. I've an   
astoundingly precious little gray kitten waiting for me in the future   
that I want to get to know better. And I've got a vision of a beautiful   
kingdom ruled over by a wonderful queen who - - well, I'll just come out   
and say it, who's practically a daughter to me as well. And she's going   
to be the greatest, most loved ruler this world has even known! And I   
will see it come to pass! No walking ice cube is going to prevent it!"  
  
Luna's eyes hit the ground. She was always uncomfortable with   
displaying her innermost emotions like that. Then she glanced over at   
Artemis and saw him grinning at her.  
  
"What are you smiling at, you hyena?" Luna bristled.  
  
"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are when you're waxing   
pedantic?" he grinned.  
  
"OH, PISH TUSH!" huffed Luna. "I doubt you even know what the   
words mean!"  
  
"We're coming up on the portal," Mercury commented, as much to get   
the cats' minds on their work as anything.   
  
They passed around a clump of trees and saw the pond. It was   
frozen over with a thick sheet of ice. The lake was so serene, like a   
scene from Currier and Ives - - save for the downed helicopter on the   
far bank, the wreckage covered over with a light blanket of frost and   
snow. Mercury produced her computer and began scanning the lake.   
  
"It's grown," Mercury frowned. "Of course it is; it would have to   
accommodate the giants passing through. That should go without saying."  
  
"Any ideas on how to close it?" Artemis asked.  
  
"Temporal physics isn't really something I've studied a lot,"   
Mercury said.  
  
"Perhaps we could plug it up?" Luna suggested.  
  
"It's a dimensional phase rift," Mercury replied. "It's not quite   
the same as plugging a drain."  
  
"Yeah, but it had to open to let the Frost Giant's through,"   
Artemis said. "That alone suggests mass of some sort, doesn't it? What   
if it isn't just a phase differential of energy? What if it's some sort   
of physical tunnel or passage? That would infer that it could be   
affected by physical means beyond energy phase transference."   
  
"Like it's a wormhole of some sort?" Mercury questioned him.   
Artemis nodded earnestly as Luna looked on, hopelessly perplexed. "But   
the energy expenditure . . ."  
  
"If they could stabilize it into a corridor of some sort, it would   
level out the energy expenditure, wouldn't it?"  
  
Frowning again, Mercury turned and focused her visor onto the   
rift. She wasn't seeing what she expected to see. Instead, the   
readings were consistent with some sort of stable pathway through the   
fourth dimension. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Mercury   
punched data into her computer to test it out. The results amazed her.  
  
"Unbelievable," she murmured.  
  
"I was right?" Artemis gaped.  
  
"It's a solid, permanent corridor through time," Mercury   
whispered. "Do you realize what this could mean? The past could become   
as accessible to us as, as taking the train to Yokohama or Hokkido! And   
the future . . .?"  
  
"Well you've always known that time travel was possible in the   
future," Luna said.   
  
"Yes, but . . ." Mercury mumbled, her head clearly swimming.  
  
"Uh, to the point at hand?" nudged Artemis. "Is there any way to   
close that down?"  
  
Mercury shook her head, struggling with the concepts. "I-I don't   
even know what it's made of! How it's maintained - - how could I   
possibly know how to close it down?"  
  
"Well, perhaps it is possible block it up with something," Luna   
persisted.  
  
"With what?" Mercury asked. "And how long would it last?"  
  
Artemis was about to reply, but Mercury whirled from him and gazed   
back up at the temporal rift.   
  
"Something's coming through!" she proclaimed.  
  
"Another Frost Giant?" gasped Luna.  
  
"That'd be my guess!" Artemis shouted. "Get to cover!"  
  
The cats scurried for the clump of trees. Once there, they turned   
back to the lake - - and saw Sailor Mercury just standing on the bank.  
  
"Sailor Mercury!" yelled Luna. "Get to cover!"  
  
Just then a Frost Giant appeared, climbing out of the sky   
itself. A clear line separated the giant's upper torso and leg from   
whatever place it came from. It was as if it were climbing out of a   
slash in the very sky itself. When it was half way out, the giant   
noticed Mercury below and motioned to freeze her.  
  
"Sparkling Tsunami!" Mercury shouted, invoking her attack.  
  
A cascade of snow and freezing rain came from nowhere and struck   
the Frost Giant as it hung half in and half out of the portal.   
Instantly the precipitation froze into a thick layer of ice, holding the   
giant motionless and trapped in the rift. Its left side was in the   
present while its right side was still in the past or at least the   
theoretical corridor.  
  
"Bravo!" called Luna as she scampered up, Artemis on her heels.  
  
"That should dam things up," Artemis added.  
  
"But for how long?" Mercury proposed. "Is this a permanent   
solution or . . .?"  
  
"No, it is not," they heard a voice say. Turning, the trio saw   
Sailor Pluto walk up. "I congratulate you on your plan of attack. You   
were correct in your deductions. However, you lack the power to   
initiate a permanent solution."  
  
"But Usagi doesn't," Luna maintained. "If we can just hold out   
until she can get strong enough . . ."  
  
"We shall receive no aid from the Princess," Pluto pronounced.   
"She sleeps, in a prison of ice, and is at this moment lost to us."  
  
Mercury's spirits fell visibly.  
  
"Then we'll just have to free her!" Luna demanded.   
  
"To do so, in her current state, would greatly risk her death,"   
Pluto informed the cat with a maddeningly irritating even tone.  
  
"You've seen this?" Luna snapped.  
  
"She's right, Luna," Mercury interjected. "If Usagi is in   
cryogenic sleep, she's beyond us. Cryo-sleep has to be terminated under   
specific controlled conditions - - otherwise you risk the subject dying   
from shock or hypothermia, particularly in the weakened condition she's   
in."  
  
Luna looked down helplessly, searching her brain for some   
response. Artemis looked after her sympathetically.  
  
"No," the black cat shook her head. "No, it can't be! It can't   
be hopeless, it can't!"  
  
Mercury didn't answer. Artemis eased up next to his love.  
  
"There's hope," he told her. "We're still alive. That means   
there's hope."  
  
"How?" Luna demanded, on the verge of tears. "Do you have   
something in your bag of gadgets and tricks?"  
  
Artemis looked away. When he did, he caught Pluto's expression.  
  
"You've seen a way out of this, haven't you?" Artemis charged.  
  
"No possible response I make can mean anything positive," Pluto   
evaded.  
  
"Never mind! You just answered the question! What is it, Pluto!"  
  
Pluto hesitated. All eyes that still could see were upon her.  
  
"There is a reason," Pluto began, "that the past is clear to us   
and the future clouded in mists."  
  
"Don't hand me that!" snapped Artemis.   
  
"My abilities demand certain responsibilities from me," Pluto   
maintained. "The future must be protected."  
  
"If you don't tell us, there isn't going to be a future to   
protect!" Artemis roared.  
  
Pluto glanced from the blazing eyes of Artemis to the reproachful   
eyes of Luna, then to the sympathetic yet impatient eyes of Mercury.   
Her expression remained stony.   
  
"I will say only this," Pluto said at last. "As disciples of our   
Princess, you must not lose faith in the future she will deliver unto   
us."  
  
As punctuation on the statement, the ice holding the Frost Giant   
trapped above them broke with a rending groan. As ice chunks rained   
down upon the frozen lake, the giant held out his hand and struck.  
  
"Artemis!" Luna shrieked as she felt herself freezing. "LOVE   
YOU!"  
  
"MARRY ME!" Artemis cried back. No response came because the two   
cats were frozen in twin chunks of ice.  
  
Mercury started to run for the shelter of the trees. She stopped   
when Sailor Pluto remained motionless.  
  
"Pluto, we have to go!" shrieked Mercury. Seeing the giant was   
about to strike again, Mercury turned and gestured. "Sparkling   
Tsunami!"  
  
A wall of precipitation rose up and quickly froze, forming a   
barrier between the giant and the two senshi. Mercury clutched Pluto's   
arm, but the senshi of time refused to budge.  
  
"Pluto, come on! We have to regroup! Find a way to plug that   
rift!" Mercury cried, tugging at Pluto. The echo of the ice barrier   
shattering lent more urgency to Mercury's efforts. Instead, Pluto   
shoved Mercury away.  
  
"You must have faith, Sailor Mercury," Pluto said with an   
unearthly, eerie calm. "Faith and courage. It all rests upon you and   
the next actions you take."  
  
The Frost Giant pointed at Pluto and ice began rapidly forming   
around her.  
  
"It all rests upon you," Pluto said before the ice overtook her   
and plunged her into cryogenic sleep.  
  
"No," Mercury gasped, shaking her head wildly. "No, no, no, no!"   
The woman scrambled stumbling to the trees. Once there she pulled out   
her computer. "Must think! There has to be a way to stop them! Think,   
Ami!"  
  
Out of the blue, she dropped her computer to the ground, then   
whirled on the Frost Giant looming over her.  
  
"SHABON SPRAY!"  
  
A dense fog instantly covered the area. Mercury scooped up her   
computer and began running in an evasive pattern. She could hear the   
giant lumbering through the park. Its footfalls, though, were too close   
and too loud to yet tell if it was pursuing her.  
  
"If only one of the others were here!" panted Mercury. "I could   
pinpoint some weak spot and they could take it down! But I don't have   
the offensive capabilities to strike a weak spot effectively!"  
  
As she ran, Mercury turned back and listened. The creature was   
following her.  
  
"Double back!" Mercury thought, staying quiet in case it was   
tracing her by her voice. The senshi pivoted left and circled back   
around to the lake. The fog meant nothing to her with her visor down.   
"Did I lose it?"  
  
Coming to a stop at the clump of trees she'd just left, Mercury   
listened. The vibrations of the creature's steps shook the ground. The   
noise of its leaden steps filled the air. They were louder and closer   
together.   
  
It was still following her.  
  
With the degree of fatigue she was feeling, Mercury knew she   
didn't have another "Sparkling Tsunami" left in her. Her heart racing,   
Mercury suddenly hit on a plan. Using her visor, Mercury pinpointed the   
location of the pursuing Frost Giant.  
  
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"  
  
The attack, aimed at the giant's ankles, sprayed out from Sailor   
Mercury. It froze around the ankles as she planned. Losing use of its   
legs in mid-stride threw the Frost Giant off balance. It pitched   
forward and impacted with the thick ice on the lake. The force of the   
impact shattered the brittle ice of the creature's body. Mercury's   
visor could detect no further signs of life from it.  
  
Breathing a shuddering sigh of relief, Mercury turned - - and came   
face to face with another Frost Giant that had slipped out through the   
nexus while she was occupied with the last one. Before Mercury could   
react, the creature hit her with its freezing effect. As Mercury felt   
her consciousness slip away, her last thought was that she didn't want   
to die.  
* * * *  
August 18, 2013: It began with a simple act of human kindness. It   
ended not with a bang, but with the soft whisper of a north wind over   
frozen ground.  
  
Continued in Chapter 8 


	8. Ascension

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 8: "Ascension"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
The date was June 30, 2015. For nearly two years, the Earth lay   
silent, frozen and dormant in an icy grip. Nothing moved and no one   
breathed. Those people and animals who were strong enough and lucky   
enough slept in cryogenic hibernation, unaware of the passage of time   
and of the world around them. Those who weren't died and remained   
perfectly preserved corpses.  
  
Above them stood the frost giants. Like gigantic sentinels they   
towered over the crumbled buildings and frozen landscape, unmoving.   
They waited for signs of life to snuff out and, failing that, for their   
recall to Knorr. For nearly two years they waited, unmoving, as the   
world revolved around the sun and resisted its warming glow.  
  
To any that might venture to look from space or from other   
dimensions, Earth was a dead world. Its flora and fauna, its people and   
their defenders, were frozen and inanimate. Nothing moved, nothing   
grew, nothing progressed. This race had seemingly proven inadequate to   
the judgment passed down upon it and was obliterated.  
  
But there was one thing that still pulsed amid the cryogenic   
silence of this dormant world. It was a source of great energy when   
focused. It was a thing of great power when wielded. It was the stuff   
of miracles when commanded. It was the Silver Crystal.  
  
When the dire circumstances first came about and Sailor Moon was   
frozen with Tuxedo Mask and the rest of the senshi, the crystal pulsed,   
asking its mistress what she wanted it to do. In response, a tired and   
wan little voice asked it to help, to give her the power to restore   
everyone and save her world. Her desire, stronger than the cryogenic   
prison that held her and so slowed her life force that weeks passed   
between two words of a thought, fanned the flame of the Silver Crystal   
and it in turn fed her strength and desire. The pair began to   
strengthen each other, feed each other and grow strong from each other.   
As they did, Sailor Moon began to press her growing power against the   
ice that held her, dimly aware of this in her sleep. The ice held and   
held, but so strong was Sailor Moon's desire to free her friends and   
restore the lives and success they had that her strength began to grow   
and multiply to the task. Fueled by the Silver Crystal and her   
single-minded desire, a change began to take place within the chrysalis   
of ice. Yet it was more than a change, more than just a new name or a   
new form - - it was ascension.  
  
And on June 30, 2015, ironically the thirty-sixth birthday of   
Usagi Tsukino, came the birth of something more.  
  
The sentinel frost giant turned its head for the first time in   
nearly two years upon its notice of a steam cloud rising up. Part of   
the ice that so choked the former city of Tokyo was melting. The   
towering thing of ice lumbered toward the phenomenon, its mission to   
snuff out all signs of life and heat still prominent in its mind. As it   
approached, the area began to glow brightly. The steam itself seemed to   
vaporize into nothing. The glow grew in intensity until it was a   
brilliant white light that flared brightly, then died away spent.  
  
Standing amid the ice was a beautiful woman. She wore a gown of   
the purest snow white. It fell off the shoulders, revealing an elegant   
neckline, and its skirt seemed to billow around the ground. The gown   
tied in the back and the bow seemed to sprout like the wings of an   
angelic butterfly. The woman herself had a gentle, fragile porcelain   
beauty, as gentle as a whisper and as fragile as silence. Hair of spun   
gold adorned her head and was gathered in twin balls at either side,   
with ribbon-like trails falling down her back. Her small hands were   
clasp to her breast and she looked down, eyes closed, as if she communed   
with those of a higher plane - - or with the very forces of life itself.  
  
Once she had been Usagi Tsukino, a clumsy crybaby with a gentle   
soul. Once she had been Sailor Moon, a reluctant heroine and champion   
of love and justice. Now she was all that and more.   
  
Now she was Serenity. Before she had wielded the Silver Crystal,   
barely controlling energies that dwarfed imagination itself. Now she   
manipulated it, as casually as she manipulated the fingers on her hand.   
Before she dimly sensed the life energy of everyone; now she knew it was   
all around her, a force that she could touch and feel. Before she was   
human; now she was something more.  
  
The frost giant numbly did its duty. Extending a monstrous hand   
at Serenity, the giant loosened a blast of cold that froze the very air   
around her into crystal pellets of nitrogen and oxygen. It did so   
without malice or contempt. It was a frost giant and that's what it   
did.  
  
Serenity looked up from her prayer with sad, soulful blue eyes.  
  
"Please," she said in a humble, supplicant voice. "There must be   
some way for us to coexist. I wish you no harm. You have life, just as   
we all do, and I wish no harm to come to that life. Can we not be   
friends?"  
  
Unmoved, for it was incapable of it, the frost giant let loose   
another blast of numbing cold. As before, Serenity deflected it with   
ease. Her head bent slightly in sorrow, Serenity reached a decision.   
Her chest heaved in dismay. She lifted her hands to the sky. Whereas   
before they would be cupped around the Silver Crystal, now they were   
empty. For the crystal was now as much a part of her as was her spirit   
of charity or her desire for candy. A silver glow surrounded her. The   
glow became more and more brilliant. The frost giant looked on dumbly.  
  
Suddenly energy lanced out from Serenity. It sliced through the   
frigid air and struck the frost giant squarely in the chest. The giant   
staggered back several paces, its foot landing on what had been a shop   
in the business district. Serenity winced in sorrow as the giant   
righted itself. Attacked, the giant responded as it only knew how.   
Another blast of cold came from it and was cleaved by another blast of   
energy from Serenity. The giant again staggered back.  
  
"Please!" cried Serenity. "I sense the life within you! Is there   
no part of you I can touch? Is there nothing I can reach to get you to   
stop this? I do not wish to hurt you!"  
  
Another blast of cold came and was deflected. Another beam of   
energy came forth and staggered the frost giant. Before it could attack   
again, another struck it and sent it tumbling backward. Serenity's eyes   
closed and she rose effortlessly into the air. Another beam lashed out   
and forced the giant back even more.  
  
Hovering in midair, Serenity gathered herself. Her expression was   
calm, though melancholy. The giant attacked again with its cold blast   
and it was as useless as the last ones were. The air seemed to crackle   
around her, alive with energy from her. It gathered around her, feeding   
on itself and growing, then burst forth. The frost giant was struck   
chest high, right where the heart would be on a human. It exploded into   
millions of shards of jagged ice, the fragments launching away from   
where the giant had stood. They traveled far distances, some as much as   
a mile and a half before gravity forced them down. There was nothing   
left of the frost giant save for the impact holes of the ice shards   
driven into the ice he stood on.  
  
As Serenity landed, she looked down in despair. A tear trickled   
down her cheek for the frost giant that lived no more. Her delicate,   
slippered feet touched down on the ice-covered ground of Earth. A sigh   
of exhaustion escaped from her. Usagi would have collapsed, either from   
sadness or fatigue. But she was no longer just Usagi and there were   
other things that needed to be done. Levitating inches from the ground,   
Serenity traveled to the one spot to where her heart would always lead   
her. Inside the block of ice was a dark, shadowy figure.  
  
"Mamoru," she said, nearly whimpering. All she had to do was   
touch the ice and it melted away to water vapor. As the ice withered   
away, Tuxedo Mask was revealed. His rigid frame bent forward as life   
returned to it. Shivering from the cold, he clasped his arms around his   
torso. Serenity reached out to touch him, to comfort him in his time of   
need.  
  
Upon contact with her hand, though, a burst of light exploded from   
Tuxedo Mask. Startled, Serenity drew back. The light died away   
immediately and Serenity found Tuxedo Mask changed. He wore the same   
clothes, but they were colored a ghostly pastel gray now, rather than   
the inky midnight black of before. Invigorated, Tuxedo Mask rose up to   
his full height.  
  
"Tuxedo Mask?" she asked, fearful that some new calamity had   
befallen them all.  
  
In response, her love looked to her and smiled. With strong, sure   
hands, he gathered up hers and brought them to his lips.   
  
"No longer, my dear," Endymion said. "Your presence has triggered   
the ascension in me, as I sense has happened in you. I am now Endymion,   
champion of Earth and wielder of the Golden Crystal."  
  
Serenity looked at him and her expression seemed to stray toward   
confusion. Things were happening too fast. Her mind was still   
struggling to catch up. A voice screamed that it was too much too soon.   
She didn't want to be Serenity. She didn't want him to be Endymion.   
She just wanted everything to be like it was before.   
  
"The others," Serenity whispered, pulling away from him. "We have   
to help the others."   
  
It pained her to pull away like that, to scurry off like a   
frightened fawn. As much as she wanted to help her friends, she also   
wanted to escape the tableau before her and the consequences it might   
mean to her. Her slippers crunched the ice below them. Serenity   
noticed for the first time that she was walking rather than hovering.   
She noticed for the first time the biting cold of the air. Her arms   
went around her torso for warmth reflexively; then she remembered she   
could form a barrier around her to keep the cold out. Mentally flailing   
herself, she did so.   
  
There were shadowy forms frozen in huge cocoons of ice all over   
the landscape. Serenity looked around, trying to remember where the   
others were, where they had fallen, where they had been entombed. Her   
thoughts seemed to careen through her mind at breakneck speed. They   
became an indecipherable jumble and she felt panic welling.  
  
"Just relax," she heard Tuxedo Mask - - or was it Endymion - -   
say. His hands gently gripped her upper arms and she could sense his   
cape enveloping her and that familiar sense of security flooded back   
through her. She took a deep, grateful breath, feeling the cutting cold   
of the air assault her lungs. "Reach out to them with your heart. Your   
bond with them will lead you to them."  
  
"How do you know?" Serenity asked. "How do you know so much about   
what I can do when I don't even know?"  
  
Endymion cupped his index finger under her chin. "Faith, I   
guess," he smiled, his eyes twinkling through the mask. "This is all   
pretty new to me, too. But the one thing I am sure of is that you can   
do it, because you always have."  
  
Serenity gave him a timid smile. "That makes one of us," she   
whispered as she reached out with her mind.   
  
At once she felt the Silver Crystal acting with her, its power no   
longer intimidating. Once wielding the crystal was like wrestling with   
a thrashing snake; now it was like opening a faucet and letting the   
power flow out of her. How she had changed.   
  
How it terrified her.  
  
"There," she said softly, pointing to a mound of ice.   
  
Serenity was five paces toward the ice before she realized her   
feet weren't touching the ground. Disregarding it in favor of her   
concern for her friends, Serenity reached the mound in moments. Her   
arms extended. She closed her eyes and focused on melting the ice and,   
more importantly, reviving the people trapped within. Unasked, their   
identity flashed into her mind as she let her power flow.   
  
"Don't overtax yourself," Serenity heard Endymion say.  
  
"Don't worry, M . . . um, Endymion," she said. "Right now I've   
got more power than I know what to do with."  
  
She exhaled a cleansing breath. Using her power to renew life   
seemed to invigorate her. She wanted to giggle, but suppressed it as   
not adult. When her eyes opened, she saw Sailor Uranus and Sailor   
Neptune. Neptune was bent over, shivering. Uranus was clearly cold as   
well, but she was groping around in a daze.  
  
"Neptune?" Uranus gasped out.  
  
"I'm here," Neptune wheezed. "So cold."  
  
Serenity only had to desire them to recover and the crystal acted.   
Healing energy emanated from her. Neptune stopped shivering. Uranus   
seemed to focus. Impulsively she reached out and seized Neptune.   
Pulling the woman to her, Uranus bent her lover back and jammed her   
mouth to Neptune's. Startled at first, Neptune at last surrendered to   
the kiss and returned it with all the passion she felt. When they   
finally parted, Uranus could only stare.  
  
"I thought you were dead!" Uranus gasped, blubbering like a baby.   
"I thought I'd lost you forever!"  
  
"I know," Neptune whispered, caressing Uranus' cheek.   
  
Uranus responded by crushing Neptune to her tall frame. Neptune   
accepted gratefully, for she had also thought she'd never feel this   
again. Finally they both sensed the presence of others and released one   
another. Uranus turned. She looked at Serenity, stared, then shook her   
head and put her hand to her temple.  
  
"Am I still in shock?" wondered Uranus. "Sailor Moon, is that   
you?"  
  
"Yes," Serenity smiled. "It's me, Haruka. Although I guess   
Serenity would be more accurate now."  
  
"You ascended?" Neptune gasped. "How?"  
  
"I don't know," Serenity confessed. "I don't understand it   
myself, but this seems to be permanent."  
  
"You even repaired my mirror," Neptune said in soft awe, for the   
Deep Aqua Mirror was in fact whole again.  
  
"The Frost Giant? Where'd it go?" Uranus asked.  
  
"It's dead," said Serenity, reluctantly. "I had to kill it. I   
didn't want to."  
  
"It probably left you with no choice," Neptune said charitably.   
There seemed to be a new respect in her eyes for Serenity that Sailor   
Moon never was able to inspire.  
  
"Gods, look at all of this," said Uranus, surveying all of the   
destruction and ice. "You suppose the whole world is like this? Are we   
the only ones left?"  
  
"Yes, the entire world is like this," Endymion said, walking up.   
He endured the awestruck stares of Uranus and Neptune. "No, we are not   
the only survivors."  
  
"Clearly you've ascended, too," Neptune replied. "How do you know   
this?"  
  
"My bond with the Earth and all that dwell here," Endymion told   
her. "I can feel the life energy of the people, the animals, the   
plants, all at low ebb, all dormant and sleeping. There are dead, but   
they are not all dead. Sadly, I can't wake them."  
  
Neptune was about to ask who could, but immediately knew the   
answer.   
  
"There's more!" Serenity said, gliding off.   
  
"How does she do that?" gaped Uranus.  
  
"Clearly ascending gives her a power boost," Neptune murmured.   
Any concerns were left unspoken in the presence of Endymion. "Come on.   
She may still need our help."  
  
At a discreet distance the trio followed Serenity. She gravitated   
up to another slab of ice jutting up out of what had once been a busy   
intersection in the business district. As she approached, Serenity   
clearly looked stricken. For a moment, Uranus and Neptune feared the   
worst.  
  
Serenity spread her arms and again a blinding glow radiated out   
from her. The glare off the ice forced Uranus and Neptune to look away.   
Uranus growled in frustration at being momentarily blind again, while   
Neptune accepted it as a consequence of life. When the glow died away,   
they looked back and saw Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter huddled and   
shivering.   
  
"Don't worry," Serenity said softly, enveloping them in her arms.   
"You'll be all right now." The pair calmed at her touch and life seemed   
to flow back into them.  
  
"Sailor Moon, is that you?" Jupiter began, her voice returning   
with the warmth of Serenity's embrace. "What happened? How long have   
we . . .?" Jupiter's voice trailed off when she got a good look at   
Serenity. The woman simply stared in shock.  
  
"Um, what's with the Serenity gig?" Venus asked, startled and put   
off balance, but keeping her wits.  
  
"It's how I escaped the ice," Serenity replied. She couldn't help   
notice Jupiter's stares and how uncomfortable it made her.  
  
"Must be really hard to maintain," Venus posed.  
  
"It's," Serenity admitted reluctantly, "permanent. Come, we have   
to find the others." Serenity glided off toward the park, partly to   
escape Jupiter's stares.  
  
"Neptune," Uranus whispered. "Just how powerful is she?"  
  
"Fully ascended - - who knows?"  
  
"Will that be a problem? You know the old saying about power   
corrupting? Could we stop her if we have to?"  
  
"Right now my only worry is defeating the Frost Giants," Neptune   
replied as they followed along in the rear. "She's our best chance of   
doing that - - possibly our only chance. If her power becomes a problem   
later, we'll deal with it then. Right now, I want her on our side."  
  
As the procession crossed toward the lake, everyone took time to   
survey the damage. The trees were all snapped under the weight of the   
ice. The grass was buried under a thick layer of ice and snow. The   
lake itself was frozen solid. Above the lake, the temporal portal   
continued to suck out any warmth generated by the sun's rays, resembling   
a gaping wound in the blue-gray sky.  
  
"Venus," Jupiter whispered. "Is this the end? Is there still   
time to make everything right?"  
  
"Better be," commented Venus. "This isn't exactly a world I want   
to live in. Course if anybody can do it, she can."  
  
"Yeah," Jupiter mumbled. Venus could sense there was more left   
unspoken in the towering woman.  
  
And near the lake was a huge lump of jagged ice amid broken trees   
and gleaming snows. Serenity landed near it. Again a tremendous glow   
forced everyone to look away. When it died, they looked back.   
  
"Pluto!" gasped Neptune.   
  
Sailor Pluto stood huddled for warmth. On the ground were Luna   
and Artemis. Off by a surviving tree was Sailor Mercury. Serenity let   
her head roll back and projected her healing power once more. As the   
energy washed over them, the quartet began to recover. Pluto brought   
her head up and forced her eyes opened. She focused on the radiant   
blonde in white standing before her.  
  
Then she sank to her knee.  
  
"My Queen!" Pluto gasped almost joyously.  
  
"Stop that!" Serenity wailed furiously. "Get up! Don't do that!   
I'm no different than before!"  
  
"Usagi?" Mercury gasped, staring at her with concern. The concern   
came because of her outburst, but perhaps from more.  
  
"I'm sorry," Serenity whispered. She looked away in humiliation.  
  
"I meant no offense, my Queen," Pluto offered apologetically.   
Serenity nodded, but couldn't look at her.  
  
"Serenity?" she heard Luna gasp. Turning to the cat, Serenity saw   
something different than in the others. Where the others were awestruck   
and perhaps just a bit intimidated by her new self, the little black cat   
who had been with her since the very start was of a different mind.   
Luna beamed with triumphant joy and proud accomplishment. "Did it   
finally happen, Serenity? Oh, thank the stars!"  
  
Luna leaped up into Serenity's arms. Bending to catch the cat,   
Serenity fell to her knees in the snow. Overcome with emotion, she   
hugged the cat gratefully to her breast. Luna pressed to Serenity's   
chin.   
  
"After all my work and tutelage, you've finally ascended!" cried   
Luna. "You've finally taken the final step! Oh, Serenity, I feared you   
were never going to make it!"  
  
"Thanks a lot, Luna," Serenity muttered, though she was pleased   
deep down by Luna's joy.  
  
"Don't you take that attitude with me, Missy!" Luna half-giggled   
and half-cried. "I've endured more from you than any four cats should   
have! I'm just so very, very glad that it was all worth it!" She   
rubbed her forehead against Serenity's chin as tears trickled down both   
smooth cheeks and matted black fur.  
  
Unnoticed Artemis padded over to Sailor Venus. Venus knelt down   
and gathered the still soggy cat in her arms.  
  
"How you doing, champ?" Venus whispered, tickling behind his ear.  
  
"A lot better than I was," Artemis told her. "I can barely   
remember being frozen, but I remember wondering if this really was our   
last battle." He shifted slightly in her arms. "But with her ascended   
and you thawed, at least we have a fighting chance now." Venus stroked   
his flank.  
  
"Usagi?" Mercury ventured timidly, "or should I say Serenity now?"  
  
"Whatever you like, Mercury," Serenity said. She kept her eyes   
down, focused on Luna.  
  
"Perhaps we should think about closing the temporal portal now,"   
Mercury suggested, "while we have a chance. It would stop the loss of   
heat energy and at least impede any further . . ."  
  
Serenity nodded silently. She let Luna slide to the ground, then   
stood up. Her movement toward the portal, though, was interrupted when   
she felt Endymion's hands on her arms again. She turned to him.  
  
"I'm with you," he told her, as if sensing her mood.  
  
Gratefully she patted his hand, then moved away. The portal   
loomed like an open sore above her as she levitated and glided out over   
the lake directly beneath it.  
  
"Caution, My Queen!" Pluto warned as the others stared at her   
display of ability.   
  
Serenity barely acknowledged Pluto. Focusing on the portal, she   
pointed with her index finger. She drew her hand across as if she was   
closing a zipper and the portal closed with the motion of her hand. All   
that could be seen was a barely noticeable line across the sky.  
  
"Astounding," Mercury said softly.  
  
"Bravo, Serenity!" cheered Luna. "Well done indeed!"  
  
Serenity landed and the others gathered near her.  
  
"Is it closed?" she asked. Mercury tapped her visor on.  
  
"Energy transference is at zero," Mercury replied. "Do you feel   
tired at all?" Serenity shook her head. "Remarkable!"  
  
"We still have to find Rei," Serenity said, turning away   
uncomfortably. Mercury stared at her, realizing she'd unintentionally   
upset her.   
  
Serenity reached out with her mind, searching the city for Rei.   
The others watched her, helpless to aid someone now so far above them.   
The inners in particular seemed uncertain about how this ascension would   
affect their relationship with their dear friend.  
  
"Mamo-chan!" Serenity cried out frantically, forgetting herself.   
"I can't find Rei! I can't sense her at all!"  
  
continued in Chapter 9 


	9. The Path To Knorr

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 9: "The Path To Knorr"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Easy, dear," Endymion said, catching Serenity's flailing body in   
his arms and steadying her.   
  
"I can't find her!" Serenity wailed, panic-stricken. "I can't   
sense her at all! Mamo-chan, she can't be dead! She can't!"  
  
Around them, heads began to bow. For Mercury, it was a blow to   
hope. For Jupiter, it was one more misery piled upon miseries. For   
Venus, it was the possible loss of a friend and fellow warrior. Even   
Pluto seemed to bow her head. Only Uranus and Neptune looked on   
stoically.   
  
"Serenity," Luna offered weakly. "Perhaps you didn't look hard   
enough. Perhaps she's in a place you missed."  
  
Serenity shook her head weakly, tears streaming down her cheeks.   
She was sobbing so hard that she couldn't find her voice.  
  
"Then that's one more thing we owe those bastards," Uranus said   
through clenched teeth. "I think it's about time we collected."  
  
"I can't go on without Rei," sobbed Serenity, now fully dependent   
on Endymion to hold her up. "Just like I couldn't go on without any of   
you."  
  
"Serenity," Neptune began to say.  
  
"Stop calling me that!" screamed Serenity hysterically. "I don't   
want to be Serenity! I'm not Serenity! I'm Usagi! I don't want to be   
Serenity! I don't want to be a Queen! I don't want any of this! I   
just want Rei back!"  
  
"Serenity, get a grip!" hissed Neptune. "I understand you're   
upset! I mourn the loss of Mars, too! But our job isn't finished! A   
lot more people are suffering and you may be the only one who can help   
them!"  
  
"She is not here," Sailor Pluto pronounced with a quiet firmness.   
Neptune and Serenity both turned to the senshi of time. Pluto looked at   
Serenity with a weariness that, for a moment, tore at the woman's heart.   
"You did not sense her because she is no longer of this place. Sailor   
Mars has been taken."  
  
"Where?" gasped Serenity.  
  
"To Knorr," Pluto replied. "I saw this. It happened nearly two   
years ago, in the aftermath of our defeat."  
  
"Is she alive?"  
  
"That is something I cannot know, my Queen."  
  
"Why? Why would they take her? Why wouldn't they take all of   
us?"  
  
"She is of the fire," explained Pluto. "Of us all, she was the   
most reviled and the most dangerous to them. To freeze her was not   
enough for them. I have looked through history and seen them take her   
to Knorr."  
  
Serenity almost seemed to contract within herself. For a moment,   
everyone was afraid she was going to crumble into a billion pieces.   
Then her shoulders straightened and grim resolve colored her features.   
It was a look alien to her and it made the others uneasy.  
  
"Then we have to get her back," Serenity whispered.  
  
"Um, Serenity," Neptune ventured, "I want to get Mars back, too.   
But we have to deal with these Frost Giants first."  
  
"Lord, for once in your lives could you work with us instead of   
against us!" snapped Jupiter. "We have to get Mars back!"  
  
"There are billions of people frozen!" Neptune snapped back. "How   
much time do they have left? Are you saying Mars is more important than   
billions?"  
  
"Actually, the people who successfully passed into cryogenic   
suspension are in no danger," Mercury interjected. "If they lasted this   
long without harm, they're perfectly safe. They're actually safer this   
way with the Frost Giants still roaming Earth. And the ones who didn't   
successfully pass - - well, there's nothing we can do for them now   
anyway."  
  
"They'll be a lot safer if we trash these Frost Giants, too,"   
Uranus argued. "Look, Serenity, you do what you think you have to do.   
Our mission is to protect Earth and that's what we're going to do."  
  
"We can defeat them a lot easier WITH Mars," Venus countered.  
  
"I don't intend to wait that long," Uranus replied.  
  
"And what makes you two think you can beat those monsters this   
time," asked Jupiter hotly, "given how well you both did last time?"  
  
"I've lost my share of battles," Uranus said, rising to the   
challenge, "but I've never lost to the same opponent twice."  
  
"Besides, it'll be three of us now," and Neptune glanced to Pluto.   
"I hope."  
  
"Forgive me," Pluto said solemnly. "I cherish our alliance, but   
the time for factionalism is past. My allegiance must now be solely to   
my Queen." Neptune stared at her as if betrayed.  
  
"Neptune," Endymion spoke up, "I appreciate your desire to free   
the Earth. Nothing is more dear to my heart," and he glanced back at   
Serenity, "except perhaps my wife. But we can't win by repeating the   
mistakes of the past. We are only strong enough to defeat the sons of   
Ymir and their Frost Giants together. That means we need Mars. That   
also means we need you and Uranus. There's no longer a place for   
individual action in this world. We all must work together, under   
Serenity's guidance, and perhaps one day there will be a place for   
individual action again."  
  
Uranus and Neptune both glared defiantly at the future king.   
Neptune scanned the faces of the others: Serenity's quiet resignation,   
Mercury's grim acceptance of the situation, Jupiter's angry condemnation   
of them, even the hint of betrayal in the expressions of Venus and   
Pluto. The cats, who always looked at her as if they knew more than she   
did, stared impatiently at them. Neptune felt the frustration well in   
her, that feeling that always made her want to scream like anything but   
the cool, precise woman everyone saw her as.  
  
"Please?" Serenity said, looking up at them with those big blue   
eyes. She looked like love incarnate, charity personified. Neptune   
glanced at Uranus and could see her lover weakening, succumbing to   
Serenity's spell. She wanted to as well. Serenity and Sailor Moon   
before her always had the uncanny knack of making her feel like a cold,   
unfeeling monster for opposing her, even when her head told her she was   
in the right. "We need you both, Neptune - - Uranus. I need you both.   
Please?"  
  
"All right," Neptune surrendered bitterly. "We'll do it your way.   
But I still think we're making a mistake."  
  
"That cinches it," muttered Jupiter. "We can't lose now."  
  
"Mako-chan, please," murmured Serenity. "Thank you," she said and   
both Uranus and Neptune couldn't help feeling like they'd just conquered   
the world. "Mercury, what do we do? How do we get to Knorr?"  
  
"I," Mercury stammered, thrown by the question. "I don't know.   
Knorr is a mystical dimension. I doubt my computer or any of my   
scanners could pick up a path leading to it. You'd need someone more   
attuned to the supernatural."  
  
"Like Mars," mumbled Venus. Artemis shot her a sympathetic   
glance.  
  
"Couldn't we use the portal?" Jupiter asked.  
  
Mercury shook her head. "The portal would only take us back to   
the past. It's temporal, not inter-dimensional."  
  
"I think that question just became moot!" Venus shouted.  
  
At once they all felt the vibrations of something very big moving   
toward them. Craning their necks, the group spotted their worse fear   
- - a Frost Giant lumbering over the frozen landscape of Tokyo headed   
toward them. The giant paused only long enough to reach out to two   
office towers it its path. A casual shove toppled the buildings,   
sending steel and cement and ice crashing to the ground under its own   
weight. Unmindful of the destruction it had caused or of the frozen and   
helpless people in the towers now crushed under tons of rubble, the   
giant continued on toward its objective.  
  
"I thought Serenity said she destroyed that thing!" Jupiter   
exclaimed.  
  
"She did," Pluto told her placidly. "This giant is from China.   
The Frost Giants have sensed our reawakening and come to freeze us   
again. This giant was the nearest to us."  
  
Serenity seemed to momentarily succumb to exhaustion or   
frustration or something. Then she gathered herself and straightened.  
  
"Stand back," she told the others. A hand on her shoulder held   
her back.  
  
"No," Neptune told her. "Save yourself for Knorr. We'll handle   
this."  
  
Neptune stepped toward the approaching giant confident that Uranus   
and Pluto flanked her. There was no fear in her eye, despite events of   
the past. There was no forgiveness either. When she reached the right   
point, she stopped and flung her hands into the air.  
  
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune called out.   
  
A tidal wave of water sprang up from nowhere and engulfed the   
lower half of the Frost Giant. Struck by the bitter cold surrounding   
the giant, the water quick-froze, trapping the legs of the Frost Giant   
in a solid block of ice twenty feet tall.   
  
Held immobile, the giant moved to defend itself. It pointed its   
hand at the outer senshi and waves of numbing cold radiated out from the   
hand. The three warriors felt the chill slice through their bodies,   
robbing them of strength, vitality and coordination. Undaunted, Uranus   
summoned the Space Sword.  
  
"Space Sword Blaster!" she roared, swinging the sword like a   
crazed buccaneer boarding a ship.  
  
The energy arcs from the sword spun up with deadly efficiency.   
They struck the Frost Giant's arms, head and upper body, leaving deep   
gashes in its surface and sending fissures throughout the ice giant's   
semi-transparent frame. The giant recoiled in pain, then moved to lash   
out again.  
  
"Dead Scream," Pluto said, softly but resolutely.  
  
An explosion of white noise sprang from her Time Staff and   
barreled toward the Frost Giant. It struck the monster chest high. The   
giant recoiled backward, vibrating, then exploded into billions of   
fragments of jagged ice. All that remained was the frozen, pinned legs   
in the block of ice that had been Neptune's wave. Turning their backs   
on the carnage, the outer senshi returned to the others.  
  
"You get points off for leaving a mess," quipped Venus upon their   
return. Uranus shot her a wry smile and Pluto seemed momentarily   
amused.  
  
"Now we must find a way to Knorr before more of those creatures   
arrive," Luna said.  
  
"We've proven we can handle them," snorted Uranus.  
  
"Yes, but it took three of you to overcome a single Frost Giant,"   
Mercury told them. "If they're all congregating on Japan, eventually   
the odds will overwhelm you. Luna's right, we must get to Knorr."  
  
"But how?" asked Jupiter.  
  
Pluto ventured through the others and came up to Serenity. She   
bent at the waist in a respectful bow, then locked eyes with her   
sovereign.  
  
"My Queen, once more it comes down to you," Pluto said. "Only you   
possess the ability to guide us. Only you may see the path that will   
lead us to Sailor Mars."  
  
"I've already told you, I can't sense her," Serenity said meekly.  
  
"Yes, but you were only looking on Earth," Luna told her. "I   
think you need to expand your horizons. Instead of searching the planet   
for her, perhaps you need to search the universe for her."  
  
"I can't do that!" Serenity cried. "Luna, I'm only one person!"  
  
"Oh, how quickly you forget!" clucked Luna. "What have I drummed   
into your head all these years? You have the Silver Crystal! That lets   
you do anything you believe you can do!" She noticed Serenity look down   
and knew from twenty years of intimate experience that her will was   
faltering. "Serenity - - Usagi - - you have to do this. You have to   
try. You're Rei's only hope."  
  
Serenity bit her lip. It was a welcome "Usagi" mannerism that   
momentarily gave everyone a bit of comfort.  
  
"I won't let you down, Rei," Serenity said, shutting her eyes and   
reaching out with her mind. "I promise."  
  
With that, Serenity's mind reached out to the heavens above and   
the dimensions that coexisted with Earth. So powerful was her probe   
that everyone surrounding her could feel the energy radiating out from   
her. Pluto closed her eyes and seemed to be piggybacking onto   
Serenity's probes. Endymion came up behind her and grasped her by her   
upper arms. Luna watched them, then glanced to Artemis with an   
approving smile. Endymion was supporting Serenity, lending her his   
strength and comfort, as was his destined role. Both cats were happy he   
at least was taking to his new life with ease.  
  
Mercury, Jupiter and Venus edged closer to Serenity and Endymion,   
hoping to be of some aid. Uranus and Neptune looked first to each   
other, then to Pluto. They were both cautiously hopeful that either   
Serenity or Pluto could succeed. Anything to keep them from standing   
around, waiting. There was a war to be won, invaders to repel and   
victims to rescue. Each of them was eager to get to it.  
  
Without realizing it, Serenity began to levitate off of the frozen   
ground. She wafted up into the air as if weightless, anchored only by   
Endymion's grasp. Her lips parted slightly. A dainty hand lazily   
lifted up, fingers splayed, and pointed in the general direction of   
north.  
  
"Gather close," Endymion said, his voice a somnambulant whisper.   
"She's found the path."  
  
Obeying instructions, the senshi closed in around Serenity. She   
began to glow with a rich silver light, gleaming like a shiny new coin   
in the brilliant sun. The ice and snow further magnified her   
brilliance. Energy swirled around them. It was an effect not unlike   
Sailor Teleport. However Serenity was summoning the energy all by   
herself, a fact not lost on any of the others. She faltered momentarily   
when she felt the trepidation the others had in the face of her new   
form. But Serenity marshaled her concentration back to Rei and the glow   
intensified.  
  
"Prepare yourself," Serenity said with a voice soft as down.   
"We're leaving now."  
  
Serenity flared a brilliant white. When the light dimmed, she and   
her friends were gone.  
  
And all over the world, Frost Giants stopped their pilgrimage to   
Japan. They came to rest and waited for the next sign of life.  
  
Serenity and her senshi reappeared amid strange surroundings. It   
was cold and snowy, like the Japan they left. But surrounding them were   
fir and evergreen trees towering miles into the sky. The terrain behind   
them was rocky, but not so it was uncrossable. Before them was a   
stretch of flatland bordered by a dense forest on one side and a   
shimmering crisp blue waterfront on the other. Steam came off of the   
water, dropping a weak fog along the banks.   
  
"This is Knorr?" Mercury asked, looking around. "It looks vaguely   
Scandinavian."  
  
"Perhaps many of the Nordic myths flow from here," suggested   
Pluto.  
  
"Yeah," shivered Venus. "Well why couldn't Mars have been held in   
Tahiti?"  
  
"Do you feel her now?" Endymion asked his wife.  
  
Serenity put her hand to her temple and concentrated for a moment.   
She pointed off to the north, toward a striking aurora borealis in the   
horizon.  
  
"That way," she proclaimed. Then she fell backwards, into   
Endymion's waiting arms.  
  
"Serenity!" gasped Luna, a fearful sentiment echoed by the others.  
  
"Tired," Serenity wheezed. "Too much too soon."  
  
Endymion scooped her up into his arms. Her head fell to a   
familiar comfort zone against his chest.  
  
"I've got you," he whispered to her.  
  
"Mamo . . . chan," she said softly and went to sleep.  
  
"Guess even her power isn't limitless," Jupiter smiled wistfully.   
"Do we just keep walking until she wakes up?"  
  
"That might not be necessary," Artemis suggested. "Now that we   
know she's on this world, I can trace her through her senshi   
communicator - - assuming she still has it." Artemis summoned the   
tracer and set it in motion. "I'm getting a signal! It's not that far   
off, too. Maybe about one point eight kilometers."  
  
"Well, let's get this show on the road," Uranus murmured and   
ventured forward. The others fell in line behind her.  
  
However, they weren't thirty meters into their journey when   
Mercury sounded an alert. Pointing to the sky, she and the rest saw a   
thick cloud descending toward them. Instantly the senshi fell into a   
defensive circle around Serenity and Endymion.  
  
"What is that?" Neptune demanded. Mercury, her visor on, digested   
the data it fed her.  
  
"Winged humanoids," Mercury reported. "Two hundred and   
twenty-six! They all have weapons, too!"  
  
"No doubt they are the comrades in arms of Janus," Pluto judged.  
  
A squadron of fifteen broke off from the rest. They swooped down   
until they were just a foot off the ground, then charged toward the   
group in a sophisticated attack formation. Each warrior carried a   
large, vicious ax or mace.  
  
"Protect the King and Queen!" bellowed Sailor Uranus. She stepped   
forward, her hand up in the air. Geo-forces gathered in her palm.   
"World Shaking!"  
  
The explosion of geo-forces barreled down the shore and tore   
through the squadron like a bowling ball through tenpins.  
  
Not to be outdone, Jupiter stepped forward, her eyes locked on the   
swarm above.  
  
"Jupiter!" she snapped. "Oak Evolution!"  
  
Dozens of electrical bursts exploded amid the swarm, stunning and   
battering every winged warrior nearby. Though dozens were felled, the   
swarm closed ranks and continued their attack.  
  
"There's too many!" Venus shouted, taking command. "We've got to   
make an end run, get away and regroup!"  
  
"Allow me," Pluto said calmly. Motioning everyone close together,   
the senshi of time raised the Time Staff above her head. "Chronos   
Bubble!"  
  
A curtain of eerie black dropped around the senshi. All motion   
around them ceased. No sound was heard. Nothing could be seen. It was   
if, with a gesture and a simple phrase, Sailor Pluto had snuffed out an   
entire world.  
  
"What just happened?" Venus asked, perplexed. If she was afraid,   
she didn't show it. The others didn't seem to mind showing it.  
  
"I have removed us from the flow of time," Pluto stated as if she   
were relating an everyday occurrence.   
  
"You can do that?" gasped Mercury. She realized immediately how   
obvious the answer to her question was and grew mortified.  
  
"Can you get us back?" Uranus asked.  
  
"Of course," nodded Pluto.  
  
With a half-turn of her staff, the shroud around them disappeared.   
Instantly they all realized their surroundings were different. A stone   
castle loomed before them, cold and gray and uninviting. There was a   
moat around the castle and the banks of the moat were lined with   
warriors. A few had wings, like Janus, but most were earthbound. They   
were all big, blocky, muscular hulks with thick beards, sharp weapons   
and surly dispositions.  
  
"I wonder whose fan club this is," quipped Venus.  
  
"How'd we get here?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"She removed us from time," Mercury explained. "While we were out   
of the time stream, the planet rotated beneath us."  
  
"Correct," nodded Pluto, impressed.  
  
Serenity began to stir in Endymion's arms. With some effort she   
lifted her head up and tilted it toward the castle.  
  
"Rei," she said in an exhausted gasp. "She's in there."  
  
"Head's up!" Uranus exclaimed.  
  
A burly man strode out from the warriors ringing the moat. He was   
nearly six feet five with broad shoulders and a massive chest. A long   
white mustache and a thick beard ran down his burly front. A fur   
loincloth, thick hide boots and a winged metal helmet were all he wore   
and he brandished a thick handled ax like Pluto brandished her staff.   
He confidently strode ten paces from the pack then pointed his empty   
hand at them. Thick, heavy leather gauntlets surrounded his upper arms.  
  
"Know that this is the land of the blessed Sons of Ymir!" he   
bellowed at the senshi, "and I am Vodun, their king! None may trespass   
upon our lands!" He brought his free hand down and got a two-handed   
grip on the ax handle. "Prepare to die!"  
  
continued in chapter 10 


	10. Deliverance

JUDGMENT DAY,  
Chapter 10: "Deliverance"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Rei Hino was roused from her slumber by the clatter of a bolt   
turning in a lock. The bolt was heavy and ancient, made of metal forged   
by fire and hammer, muscle and sweat. The door was thick wood that had   
been harvested ages ago, perhaps as far back as the dawn of time, to the   
point where it was petrified nearly to stone. It took a broad shoulder   
and a strong back to move it, which worked out perfectly because her   
guard had both. He thankfully blocked out much of the light from the   
hall, because Rei's eyes had long since grown accustom to darkness.  
  
She squinted up at him, grateful for his appearance. He was a   
rough-hewed, ugly man, coarse and blunt. A lot like herself, she once   
thought long ago - - except for the ugly part. Nevertheless, she was   
grateful to see him, for what he meant to her: Food, a glimpse of the   
light and human contact. It was reassurance that she hadn't been   
forgotten or abandoned. It was proof that the world still existed, at   
least this world.  
  
For her world no longer existed. It was a block of ice, cold and   
lifeless. Everyone she cared about was either dead or frozen inanimate,   
which was as good as dead. She, Rei Hino, was the sole survivor of the   
planet Earth.  
  
Sometimes she wished she'd died with them.  
  
"Take your meal," rumbled the guard unpleasantly. "I haven't got   
all day."  
  
Rei reached up weakly, fighting the drag of heavy iron chains and   
shackles that held her to the wall by her wrists and her throat. She   
took the bowl, cupped it in her hands and gently, gratefully brought it   
to her. The guard turned around, his odious task of feeding one of   
"them" finished. He strode to the door and shut it behind him. Once   
more Rei was plunged into darkness.   
  
Melancholy over losing the light again, Rei put it aside and   
pressed the bowl to her lips. As she plucked pieces of whatever this   
was and slipped them into her mouth, she tried to recall what real food   
tasted like. For the longest time she couldn't remember. It had been   
so long. So many meals of this - - stuff - - made her memories of food   
in her old life fade away like old photos.  
  
Then she remembered the day her grandfather had treated her to   
fugu. She remembered how excited she was, and how daring and   
adventurous she felt eating a dish that, if prepared incorrectly, was   
deadly. She remembered how wonderful it tasted, the flavor enhanced by   
the fact that she lived through it. And she recalled how her own   
excitement had been mirrored in her grandfather's face as he shared one   
of his own life experiences with her and witnessed one of hers.  
  
Tears trickled down her cheeks. After all this time - - Rei   
didn't know for sure, but she suspected that she'd been captive for   
around two years - - Rei didn't think she had any tears left. She knew   
her alleged bottomless wellspring of fury had been spent long ago. But   
thinking of Grandpa made her miss him, and that made her miss Usagi.   
And missing Usagi made her miss Ami and Makoto and, yes, even Minako.   
And missing them once again hammered home just how desolate and alone   
she was and for how long. A soft glove wiped the tears from her face,   
even as new ones sprouted to replace them.  
  
Setting the bowl down, Rei heard herself sigh in resignation. She   
felt around her body and found her Sailor Mars fuku was still intact.   
These uniforms were miraculous. Any normal cloth worn constantly for   
two years would have disintegrated from her body, but the costume was as   
intact as the day she fell captive. It even seemed to stay fresh and   
clean somehow - - "Sailor magic", no doubt. Unlike her body, which   
hadn't had a bath in two years. Rei occasionally wondered if she'd ever   
feel clean again. When the feel and odor became too much for her, she'd   
resorted to burning the dirt and sweat off of her skin, but it was a   
poor substitute to reclining in a hot bath.  
  
She still possessed her power over the fire. Even here in this   
dank, cold prison cell gouged deep in the ground beneath the snowy   
surface of the land, she could still summon the fire. When she first   
awakened in this cell, chained to the wall, she'd tried to melt her   
shackles away. Evidently her captors had held prisoners who could   
summon fire before. The chains were a special metal that resisted heat   
almost by magic. Still she tried, every day for months until the simple   
act of thinking about it seemed to drain her. Then she tried melting   
the walls. That did little better.  
  
No, all the fire brought her were reprisals. Every time she tried   
to burn her way free, she was punished with a dousing of cold water by   
the guard when he caught her. Then he'd beat her. The initial beatings   
were savage. Later on, they were just token beatings; perhaps they were   
tiring of her, or perhaps she wasn't reacting the way she first did.   
Rei knew sometime during her captivity she changed. Her famous rage   
spent itself, leaving her with little left to fight with.  
  
However, she didn't stop trying to escape or to summon the flame.   
It only made her sneaky, surreptitious; that, however, didn't prevent   
all of the dousings. And then she'd be left to shiver alone in the dark   
with her wet skin and bruises.  
  
"Fire Soul," she whispered softly in the darkness, her two index   
fingers steepled out from her hands and the shackles that held them   
fast.  
  
An acrid scent decorated the air and at once combustion occurred.   
A tiny flame, no higher than could be produced by a match, stood atop   
her fingertips and flickered slightly as air skittered by. Rei cradled   
it against her body, trying to shield it from those who kept her. When   
she was sure no one else smelled the thin plume of smoke or saw the tiny   
light it gave, Rei looked at it. The fire was an old friend, the oldest   
friend she had. When she was a small child, she couldn't understand why   
her father ranted at her when she tried to touch it. It was only later   
she realized he couldn't hear it speak. Unlike him, the fire would   
never hurt her. The fire would speak to her, tell her secrets about   
others and secrets about herself. The fire was warm and bright, like   
her mother. The fire was a comfort during those times when she was   
shunned and alone.  
  
Like now.   
  
"Kami of the fire," she whispered, her voice deserted her from   
disuse. "What's to become of me?" Rei's lip trembled as she asked   
this. "Why are they keeping me alive? Why won't they let me meet my   
ancestors in Heaven? Why, Kami?"  
  
The fire danced seductively as her words brushed past it.   
However, it once more remained maddeningly silent.   
  
Fires eventually die out, just like people do. When that   
happened, Rei would always feel desolate for a time. Her difficult   
childhood had taught her it was necessary sometimes to endure loneliness   
and solitude, for there was no other choice. Her priest's training had   
given her the means to deal with the emptiness more easily than her   
stumbling efforts in childhood. For her Shinto training told her that   
hardship, like plenty, was inevitable, but that conditions changed just   
as the seasons did. It was only a matter of having the strength and the   
patience to ride out the hardship alive and in enough health to enjoy   
the plenty when it arrived.  
  
Another thing it taught her was that none of us are ever truly   
alone. Kami existed everywhere, watched her every move and judged her   
every decision. Even in a barren, sterile place such as the cell she   
was held in, some sort of Kami existed. And being in a desolate place   
meant they were probably eager to talk.  
  
And there were others who were with her. Her ancestors walked   
with her. Their spirits never left her side, even with her incarcerated   
in a dank, dark hole in the ground. Her mother was there. If she   
listened in just the right way at just the right moment, Rei could hear   
her soft, melodic voice, unchanged after all these years. Sometimes   
Grandpa would be by her side, chuckling at her foolishness and   
immaturity, but always ready to give her support or the advice she   
needed before she knew she needed it. Grandpa always downplayed his   
sight. Perhaps he couldn't see to her level, but he saw things and he   
knew just what to do when he did.  
  
So when Rei would reach her lowest ebb, which seemed to come more   
and more frequently, she would pull her creaking body into as much of a   
lotus position as she could manage. Then she would clear her mind of   
the anger and the worry and the fear and reach out to one of the Kami or   
to her ancestors. Sometimes they wouldn't hear or couldn't communicate   
back, due to her fatigue or stress. That would only make Rei more   
desolate and frustrated.  
  
Oh, but when they did - - she found an ancient tree spirit in the   
wood of the door and listened for hours on end as he told her stories of   
the people he'd seen, the trials they'd endured and the wrongs that had   
been avenged. He was a wondrous old spirit that had seen so much of   
life that he knew better than to judge or take sides. And he took a   
keen interest in her, for he had never before met one who could hear him   
and respond to him. He had seen others who could produce fire - - they   
generally suffered the worst and died the fastest. He was impressed   
she'd lasted this long.  
  
And she had so many talks with her mother, both alone and with   
Grandpa. They talked for hours, Rei telling her everything that   
happened since they were separated, all of her triumphs and her defeats.   
And her mother would hang on every detail, enraptured by her daughter's   
exploits. And she approved of everything Rei hoped and prayed she would   
approve of and sympathized with her defeats. Once Rei even admitted to   
her something she'd never admitted to anyone, not even herself for the   
longest time. Once it was out, she feared a rebuke.  
  
But her mother understood. It gave Rei the strength to go on for   
a little while.  
  
Through their conversations, Rei also got a look into the   
relationship between her mother and grandfather. She found out they   
battled for years, never seeing eye to eye about nearly anything, yet   
always maintained a strong bond of love and respect. She discovered the   
attraction her mother felt for her father, what drove them together and   
what ultimately pulled them apart. It gave her a perspective on him she   
hadn't had before, though she stubbornly clung to her opinion of him.   
But most of all, Rei discovered her mother was more than a dead icon.   
She was a real person with faults and failings, but a person that could   
be worthy of the respect and love Rei always showered on her.  
  
They would often talk until Rei ran out of energy and fell asleep.   
And when she woke, Rei would again be alone.  
  
It helped her get through the months of captivity. If she was   
truly alone, Rei was sure she would have died long ago from not caring.   
There was, however, one person she desperately wanted to talk to.   
  
But she was dead - - and she wasn't an ancestor.  
  
"Fire Soul," she whispered again as another day passed barely   
noticed. The flame sparked atop her steepled index fingers. "Why can't   
you speak to me, little flame? Are you too small? Too weak? Have I   
offended you in some manner? I'd appease you if I could, but I don't   
have very much to offer."  
  
The flame looked at her and shivered, then snuffed out.  
  
The thick bolt pulled back in the lock again. Mars looked up,   
wondering if she'd lost track of time. She desperately buried her hands   
under her skirt to smother any lingering trace of the smoke. She didn't   
want another dousing if she could avoid it. But why were they here?   
Had someone seen the little flame? Was it feeding time already? It   
couldn't be. Her stomach wasn't burning with hunger. That meant . . .  
  
The door opened and the light from outside spilled in, only to be   
blocked by the burly sentry. Mars looked up at him, trying to catch a   
glimpse of whether he had a bowl in his hand. And then it happened.   
The guard turned to someone outside, looking to reassure himself that   
the other was there. The light caught his full face, allowing Mars to   
read him.  
  
She wasn't to be executed. They needed her now, as a hostage.  
  
But against whom? Had one of the senshi made it to this world?   
Had - - Mars didn't even dare think it, lest her flickering hope jinx it   
for her.  
  
The two men, the guard's partner as rough and burly as he,   
lumbered in. One seized Mars' left wrist in a grip of iron. She knew   
she couldn't break it when she was healthy and in this desiccated   
condition was no match for him. Still she resisted as her wrist was   
freed from its shackle. A thick wood bar was placed against her back   
and her arms bent behind and under it. Her shackles were then   
refastened so her hands were held in front of her, under the beam. The   
chain cut across her abdomen and red skirt while the wooden bar dug into   
her arms and her back.  
  
Mars was jerked to her feet. Despite her efforts to resist, she   
was wrestled from the cell into the hall. The bright light of the hall   
stung her eyes. Mars squinted until she noticed a blazing torch   
lighting the way. As she was shoved along the dirt hall, the ground   
long frozen into the hardness of cement, Mars looked deeply into the   
torch.   
  
"What's going on?" she whispered hoarsely.   
  
"She has come," the fire told her.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Quiet, fire scum!" snapped one of the guards. He delivered a   
vicious backhand blow to Mars that threw her to the hard ground. Even   
before she recovered, they hauled her to her feet and shoved her   
forward.   
  
Her guards hustled Sailor Mars up a flight of steps carved into   
the tundra, practically dragging her at times. The thought of seeing   
the sky and breathing fresh air after two years was blunted by the   
thought that she was to be used as a hostage. And if it was against who   
she suspected it was - - Mars shook her head. It couldn't be.  
  
At ground level, the cold air struck her full face. Mars looked   
up at the sky, a sky so blue that it reminded her what blue was like.   
Ahead of her were more of these vaguely Nordic Sons of Ymir, all burly   
warriors massed for a fight. They parted as she was hustled through the   
ranks. Some of them snarled at her while others grinned confidently   
that she was their key to an easy victory.   
  
Breaking through the front line, Mars was seized by one of them   
and held close. He was a brutal-looking vandal with a long white beard   
and a winged helmet crowning him. Before she could resist further, the   
sharp edge of an ax came up to her throat. Mars eyed it warily until   
she was sure it presented no immediate danger to her. Only then did she   
peer out across the tundra.  
  
It was her! Mars felt her heart leap. It was Usagi, and Mamoru   
and Ami and all the others! They were all alive, even the cats! And   
Usagi was in her Serenity form! And Mamoru was cast as Endymion! And   
they were all alive and they'd come for her! For a fleeting moment,   
Mars wanted to break down and cry like a little baby with utter joy.  
  
"Rei!" shrieked Serenity, and Mars was yanked back to cold   
reality.  
  
"Yes, I thought that might change your tune!" chortled the man   
holding the ax to Mars' throat. "Know that Vodun fears nothing living,   
least of all a soft woman who 'wishes to be my friend'! I am of the   
Sons of Ymir! We need nothing save a strong back and a strong ax! We   
do not ally ourselves with the bastard offspring of Surt, nor with human   
rabble! We judge the humans as weak!"  
  
"It's not weak to want peace," Serenity said, with a maturity and   
assurance that Mars could never recall her friend ever having. "Only   
weaklings war and rob and kill. Peace can benefit us all. Please, I   
know you to be wise enough to see this. Please do not force a   
confrontation."  
  
"The babblings of a weakling, just as I thought!" sneered Vodun.   
"You haven't the stomach for a fight! You wish proof?" The ax blade   
pressed to Mars' throat and Serenity flinched. "Surrender now or the   
girl dies."  
  
Mars mind screamed "no"! She knew Usagi too well. She could see   
it on her face the decision was already made.   
  
"Serenity!" Neptune hissed out an impotent warning. Mars could   
see Uranus tensing to intercept Usagi, but she knew it would do no good.  
  
Mars grimaced in frustration. It couldn't be happening again.   
Not again, having to watch Usagi throw up her hands in defeat rather   
than risk one of them. How many times did they have to go through this?   
Did she endure everything she'd endured over the last two years, every   
deprivation, every humiliation, and every cruelty only to see Usagi   
throw it away - - again?  
  
"I," Serenity began, her eyes cast down. Rei knew what the next   
word out of her mouth would be. It was burned into her brain.   
  
And it all became too much for her.  
  
"FIRE DRAGON INCINERATE!" Sailor Mars bellowed out with a broken,   
faltering voice. Friend and foe alike were taken by surprise.  
  
And Sailor Mars became a match head, igniting into a   
conflagration. The fireball exploded up and out from her, incinerating   
Vodun and those to all sides of him. Their flesh blistered and peeled   
from their mythical forms before they even had a moment to register what   
had happened. The fireball expanded outward with deadly speed,   
consuming everything in its path, from trees to buildings to people.   
Only those at the outer rim of the gathered army had time to dive out of   
the way and save themselves.   
  
As the fireball reached its apex, wings of fire began to rise up   
from it. Between them rose flames in the shape of a lizard with a long,   
thin neck. Its head reached to the sky and seemed to roar defiantly at   
the heavens. The waves of heat from the fire dragon fanned out from it,   
melting snow, igniting trees, and even forcing the senshi back.  
  
And in the center of it all was Sailor Mars. Her fetters were now   
slag. The ashes of the bones of her captors mixed with the blackened   
dirt and fused to glass beneath her feet. Her arms, now free, reached   
up to the heavens. The heavens seemed to beckon to her and for a moment   
she wanted to embrace the ultimate freedom. All she had to do was just   
let go.  
  
Then she remembered the one thing that still bound her to Earth.   
The dragon dropped its head and folded its fiery wings around its body,   
then dissipated. Sailor Mars dropped to her knees, spent, her upper   
body barely propped up by shaky arms.  
  
"Rei!" screeched Serenity. Mars felt the woman's body fall next   
to her, felt those arms around her and she sagged, allowing her friend   
to prop her up. "Rei, are you all right? Please say yes!"  
  
"Is it really you?" Mars asked weakly.  
  
"Yes, Rei, it's me!" blubbered Serenity.  
  
"Usagi," Mars wheezed. "Thought you were dead. Thought you were   
all dead. It's been so long."  
  
"I'm sorry you had to go through this," Serenity whimpered. "It   
must have been horrible."  
  
"Thinking you all were dead was the horrible part," Mars   
whispered, hiding her eyes from the rest.  
  
"Where'd you learn to do that dragon thing?" asked Venus in a   
hushed tone. "You've vaporized everything in a hundred meter radius!"  
  
"It's always been inside of me. Just let it loose. Couldn't let   
her do it," Mars shook her head weakly. "Not again."  
  
"You shouldn't have done it, Rei," Serenity said timidly. "All   
those lives - - they all stain your soul now."  
  
Mars looked up at Serenity and everyone could see some of the old   
fury returning.  
  
"That doesn't matter, Usagi!" she snapped.  
  
"Yes it does," Serenity replied.  
  
"That's our job, you little idiot! That's why we're here! Your   
mission may be to spread peace over the planet, but our mission is to   
protect you! And sometimes that means protecting you from yourself!"  
  
Mars expected anger, bitterness, remonstration, even a wagging   
tongue and steeled herself for it. But, in a gesture of infinite   
charity that, being Serenity, was the only thing she was capable of, she   
folded her hands around Mars' head and hugged it to her breast. There   
were no recriminations, no accusations, no bitter threats or denials   
despite Mars' angry words. And Mars, grateful that her friend was alive   
and had the infinity charity to forgive her, and for the sudden surge of   
healing energy running through her that probably came from Usagi as   
well, surrendered control of her battered frame and nestled against her   
friend.  
  
And maybe she'd wake up and discover it was all a bad dream.   
However, the cynic in her told her she was kidding herself.  
  
Continued in Chapter 11 


	11. Showdown On Knorr

JUDGMENT DAY,  
  
Chapter 11: "Showdown On Knorr"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Well," smiled Venus, picking up Artemis and nuzzling the scraggly   
  
cat, "one big happy family again."  
  
"Except our work isn't done yet," Uranus reminded her.  
  
"Yeah, we've got some Frost Giants to beat," Jupiter said. "And   
  
I'm not betting on Mars being much help."  
  
"I'll hold my end up," murmured Mars, still in Serenity's grateful   
  
embrace.  
  
"Well, as cute as it is," Neptune jabbed, making Mars blush, a   
  
reaction neither knew she was still capable of, "that won't help us very   
  
much. We need firepower. But it is time we were getting back."  
  
Suddenly the senshi were rocked by the footfall of something   
  
gigantic approaching them. They each exchanged looks.  
  
"I think it's past time we were getting back," Venus commented,   
  
looking around suspiciously.  
  
"There!" Mercury shouted, pointing off into the distance.   
  
Everyone turned and saw four Frost Giants lumbering toward the   
  
incinerated village.  
  
"And I don't think they're going to be too happy with Mars' little   
  
scorched Earth decorating pattern," Venus added.  
  
"We'll handle them," Uranus said. She, Neptune and Pluto   
  
stiffened to meet the onslaught.  
  
"No," Serenity proclaimed, firmly and assertively. "That won't be   
  
necessary."  
  
"Why, were you planning on surrendering to them?" Neptune turned   
  
and asked, a short, cutting tone to her voice. Serenity took it far   
  
more stoically than the others did, but they all knew Neptune was right   
  
to think that way.  
  
"There's been enough killing," she told Neptune, without flinching   
  
or backing down.  
  
"If you're worried about me staining my soul," Neptune began.  
  
"There's been enough killing," Serenity repeated, leaving no room   
  
for dispute.  
  
And the Frost Giants lumbered closer.  
  
"They're just monsters!" Uranus protested.   
  
"They're alive, Haruka," was all she would say.  
  
"So's a germ! But all it's good for is spreading disease! And   
  
all these things are good for is killing and destroying!"  
  
"Who are you to judge what another life is or isn't good for?   
  
They're just acting the only way they know how," Serenity maintained.  
  
And the Frost Giants lumbered closer. The nearest one raised its   
  
hand to project its numbing cold.  
  
"Mercury!" Mercury shouted, lunging forward. "Aqua Rhapsody!"  
  
A gusher of water sprayed out at the Frost Giant. The Giant   
  
reflexively quick-froze the water into a canopy of ice, providing a   
  
momentary barrier between the giants and the senshi.  
  
"Could we discuss philosophy later, please?" Mercury demanded.   
  
"Those giants are about to attack and that barrier won't hold for long!"  
  
"You're right," Serenity replied, hardly offended by Mercury's   
  
harsh words. "This is hardly appropriate."  
  
With her index fingers steepled and pressed to her lips, Serenity   
  
closed her eyes and concentrated. Sensing what she was doing, Endymion   
  
gripped her by her upper arms and closed his eyes. A brilliant light   
  
flared up around the startled senshi.  
  
When it dissipated, they were back in Tokyo, back in Juuban Park   
  
by the lake, just where they'd left.  
  
"Well," Uranus admitted reluctantly, "that works, too."   
  
The others noticed Serenity sag against Endymion.  
  
"Serenity, you're doing too much," Luna warned her. "Your   
  
abilities may be heightened, but you don't have limitless power. The   
  
others are here and they are willing and able to help."  
  
Serenity nodded with difficulty. "I'm all right. The jump is   
  
just a little strenuous for me."  
  
"So do we wait for the Frost Giants to come to us or do we take   
  
the fight to them?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"I think that depends on whether or not they can get   
  
reinforcements," Venus said. "Is that gateway between here and Knorr   
  
closed?"  
  
"Only if whomever opened it can't open it again," Mercury told   
  
them. "The temporal portal to the past is closed. But whatever energy   
  
these Ymirites used to travel from their dimension to ours is   
  
unaccounted for."   
  
"Janus," Pluto said, forming the name with some distaste,   
  
"mentioned a vizier who gave him the means to travel between the   
  
dimensions. Unless this vizier was caught in the holocaust initiated by   
  
Sailor Mars, he must still exist."  
  
"Then we have to go back," Uranus concluded. "We have to find   
  
this vizier and neutralize him. Otherwise they can just send more and   
  
more of these things to Earth until they overwhelm us again."  
  
"But what about the ones here now?" Artemis asked.  
  
"Serenity's more than capable of handling them with your help,"   
  
Neptune told them. "This is clearly a mission for the outers."  
  
"But how will you get back to Knorr?" Artemis argued.  
  
"I shall take us. I have the power and, thanks to the Queen I now   
  
know the way," Pluto replied ambiguously. Catching Serenity's pained   
  
expression, Pluto bowed to her. "Forgive me, my Queen. After this, I   
  
shall be your willing and loyal servant. This I pledge. But this must   
  
be done."  
  
"Don't worry, Serenity," Uranus added. "You free the planet and   
  
we'll take care of this."  
  
They turned to go, but Serenity reached out and caught Uranus by   
  
her forearm. Uranus turned back and saw those big, blue, watery eyes   
  
that were so very hard to say no to.  
  
"Please," she begged, "you're not going to kill him, are you?   
  
Hasn't there been enough death?"  
  
Neptune gently but firmly removed Serenity's hand from the arm of   
  
Uranus. She looked the future queen directly in the eye.  
  
"No promises, Serenity," Neptune said firmly. "Perhaps you can   
  
afford scruples at a time like this. We can't. The stakes are too   
  
important."  
  
Before Serenity could argue further, Neptune nodded to Pluto.   
  
Sailor Pluto brought her staff around them in a circular motion and a   
  
ruby bubble of energy formed. The trio faded from view. Serenity   
  
looked to Endymion for reassurance.  
  
"Let them be," he advised her. "We have other concerns to deal   
  
with."  
  
* * * *  
  
"You are going to land us far away from the remains of the castle,   
  
aren't you?" Neptune asked.  
  
"I have not taken leave of my senses," Pluto replied.  
  
The ruby bubble set down in a clearing. Snow-capped hills   
  
surrounded them on three sides, while a pristine blue lake bordered the   
  
fourth. Pine trees dotted the hills, growing denser as one's gaze   
  
ascended. The sky was still a crisp blue with white clouds strewn   
  
intermittently across it.   
  
"Seems a shame this place houses such aggressive, callous people,"   
  
Neptune mused. "It has some very beautiful scenery."  
  
"I hate cold," sneered Uranus. Neptune's mouth curled. "Any idea   
  
where we find this vizier?"  
  
"Permit me a moment," Pluto replied.  
  
She placed her hand to her temple and closed her eyes. Uranus and   
  
Neptune stared at her. Serenity's power wasn't the only thing that was   
  
taking some getting used to. Sometimes Pluto was the familiar Pluto   
  
they'd fought beside for years. Sometimes, like this moment, she was a   
  
completely different entity, distant and not entirely human. Then   
  
Neptune noticed her grimace.  
  
"I assume you're reviewing recent history," Neptune surmised.   
  
"Did you see something that startled you - - or did you see him again?"  
  
"Forgive me," Pluto replied flatly. "The wound is still quite   
  
fresh."  
  
"You're better off without him," Uranus replied.  
  
"A fact that may ultimately be of little consequence on some   
  
lonely future night," Pluto replied, downcast. Then she smiled at some   
  
irony only she saw. "The one we seek resides in that cave," and Pluto   
  
pointed to the mouth of a cave nestled in the snowy hills.  
  
"Head's up," Uranus murmured.   
  
The others turned, following her line of sight. A pack of timber   
  
wolves stalked them. Each of the gray canines stood about four feet   
  
tall and was burlier than wolves on Earth. The wolves had teeth bared   
  
and were crouched to attack. Uranus raised her right hand, but Neptune   
  
stopped her. Uranus looked to her lover, inquiringly.  
  
"They're not evil," Neptune said, showing that Serenity had   
  
managed to influence her. "They're only doing what they know. I think   
  
I can handle this a little more gently."  
  
Neptune's back stiffened. Her hands shot into the air.  
  
"Deep Submerge!" she called out.  
  
A tidal wave sprang up from nowhere and roared over the pack.   
  
Helpless to resist the mighty current, the wolves were swept into the   
  
lake and away from where the outer senshi stood. The immediate threat   
  
gone, the trio turned back to the cave.  
  
"No doubt she will have some sort of protective barrier over the   
  
mouth of the cave," surmised Pluto.  
  
"It probably wouldn't be a good idea to attack - -," Neptune   
  
began, then looked at Pluto. "Did you say 'she'?"  
  
"Did I neglect to tell you that we face a woman?" Pluto replied   
  
deadpan. "And one of considerable mystical might, with many potions and   
  
talismans of power secreted in this cave."  
  
"No, I don't think it did come up," Neptune replied, her eyes   
  
flaring. "But if she's as strong as you say, we probably shouldn't   
  
confront her in her stronghold."  
  
"Then we need to flush her out," Uranus judged. Waiting to see if   
  
Neptune would stop her, Uranus raised her hand when no opposition   
  
materialized. "World Shaking!"  
  
The geo-force barreled down the path to the cave and exploded   
  
inside the mouth. The hill trembled with the shock wave produced by   
  
Uranus, a shock wave akin to an exploding bomb. No one came out.  
  
"Maybe you need to knock harder," suggested Neptune.  
  
"World Shaking!" Uranus roared again. A second blast hit the cave   
  
and in addition to the tremor produced a plume of dust from the mouth of   
  
the cave.  
  
"Feel up to another try?" Neptune asked.  
  
"I could do this all day," Uranus told her. "World Shaking!"  
  
The third blast rocked the cave. More dust poured out of it,   
  
followed by a figure. She was a stout woman, dressed in fur skins. A   
  
hood fell back to reveal thick blonde hair braided and pinned to her   
  
head. Her face was hard, yet possessed some beauty. A brown cloak   
  
covered her and concealed her hands.  
  
"Dead Scream," Pluto said, directing her staff toward the figure.   
  
A sonic blast burst from the ruby globe and shot toward the target. The   
  
figure's hand sprang up from behind the cloak and, with amazing speed   
  
and dexterity, brown gloves on thick hands deflected the blast away.  
  
"Think me an easy target?" the woman sneered. "You know not the   
  
power you face!"  
  
"But you know the power you face," Sailor Neptune replied. "Do   
  
you have a name to go with your skulking trickery?"  
  
"You face Freyja," the woman proclaimed proudly. "I am vizier to   
  
he who was my king!" Freyja raised a scornful eyebrow. "Yes, I know of   
  
your treachery! I know how you consumed Vodun the Great and his   
  
warriors in your hellish fires! Know you that their deaths will be   
  
avenged and that they will laugh with scorn at your defeat from their   
  
seats in Valhalla!"  
  
"Bring it on," Uranus said with grim determination. "You and your   
  
world tried to kill an entire world full of people! I'll compare bloody   
  
hands with your precious Vodun any day! And we won't leave here until   
  
you and your kind can't harm us again!"  
  
Her hand went up. Instantly Freyja moved, drawing a counter   
  
measure from beneath her cloak.  
  
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune called out.   
  
Caught off guard by the outers' misdirection gambit, Freyja was   
  
swept under by the tidal wave of water. The three outer senshi watched   
  
intently for their adversary to emerge from the wave, for none of them   
  
thought for a moment she would succumb to a simple wave.  
  
"I don't see her," Uranus said after a time. "Suppose we did get   
  
her?"  
  
"Perhaps she's just retreated to some hideaway so she can strike   
  
when we least expect it," mused Neptune.  
  
Unexpectedly, Neptune was seized from behind. The others pivoted   
  
and saw her hoisted up into the air by the branches of one of the fir   
  
trees, now given life by sinister magic. Neptune writhed in the grip of   
  
the tree, but couldn't free her arms to use her weapons.  
  
"You have a fair grasp of me, for a simple-minded human!" sneered   
  
Freyja, atop a hill behind them where she had teleported. "Ah, but my   
  
tree has a fair grasp of you as well!"  
  
Uranus shot her hand into the air. "World Shaking!" she bellowed,   
  
and a geo-force bubble roared through the glade of trees straight for   
  
Freyja.   
  
But with a sweeping gesture of her hand, holding a metal disk   
  
covered with runes, Freyja lifted into the air and flew above the   
  
geo-force attack. As she hovered, her free hand appeared from under her   
  
cloak and fired a small knotted bag of powder at Sailor Pluto. Pluto,   
  
though, merely waved her staff and faded from view. The powder struck   
  
the ground and exploded into a yellow sulfuric cloud.  
  
"Uranus! Don't let that cloud touch you!" shouted Neptune as she   
  
fought to free herself from the grip of the tree. The tree glared at   
  
her and angrily shook her.  
  
Uranus produced her space sword. "Space Sword Blaster!" she   
  
bellowed and energy arcs flew from the blade of the sword.  
  
With some difficulty, Freyja avoided the arcs. Finally she faded   
  
from view as one passed through the spot she had been in. Undaunted,   
  
Uranus turned to the tree. Using the sword, she threw more energy arcs   
  
that sliced the limb holding Neptune. As Neptune crashed to the snow,   
  
the fir tree reared back, howling out in agony. Enraged, the tree's   
  
remaining limbs reached for Uranus, intent upon snatching up the senshi   
  
and ripping her to pieces. Uranus stood her ground, projecting more   
  
energy arcs from the sword. The arcs sliced through the tree like a   
  
razor through paper. The tree howled once and fell apart into smoothly   
  
cut chunks.  
  
"Neptune, you all right?" Uranus asked, pulling the dead branches   
  
away from her arms and torso.  
  
"Yes," Neptune replied curtly. "Did you see where Freyja went?"  
  
"No. Pluto's gone, too!"  
  
"Be on guard. She could pop up at any time. I'm going to try to   
  
find her with the mirror."  
  
As Neptune gazed into the Deep Aqua Mirror, Uranus scanned the   
  
hills surrounding them for signs of attack. Unseen, Freyja materialized   
  
fifty feet behind Uranus. Obscured by the trees, the Ymirian vizier had   
  
a clear line of attack on Uranus and Neptune. Silently she drew a   
  
talisman from her cloak. It was a brass disk with a ruby fixed in the   
  
center. Ancient runes were carved in a circle around the outer edge of   
  
both sides. Cupped in her hand so the jewel could feed off of the light   
  
of the sun, it began to glow crimson in her hand. Freyja stared   
  
intently at her quarry. With luck, she might fell them both with a   
  
single shot.  
  
Suddenly, the talisman was plucked from her hand. Whirling,   
  
Freyja found herself face to face with Sailor Pluto.  
  
"You are not the only one capable of time jump," Pluto told her   
  
placidly.  
  
Angered, Freyja fell back two paces to give her distance from   
  
Pluto. Her hands were already in her cloak, reaching for new weapons.   
  
In response, Pluto raised her time staff and pointed the ruby head at   
  
her.  
  
"Chronos Typhoon!" Pluto roared.   
  
The sound drew the attention of Uranus and Neptune. They turned   
  
in time to see Freyja bathed in ruby energy from Pluto's staff.   
  
Instantly Freyja's clothing began to decay and fall away from her body   
  
as the startled Ymirite looked on.  
  
"I am aware that you are immune to the ravages of age," Pluto   
  
commented dryly. "Your potions and talismans, however, are a different   
  
matter."  
  
"Witch!" spat Freyja, naked and shivering in the cold. "What have   
  
you done to me?"  
  
"Neutralized you," Pluto replied.  
  
Freyja felt her arms seized and turned. Uranus had a hold of her   
  
and forced her arms behind her back with some difficulty. She glared   
  
defiantly at her three captors, unwilling to acknowledge defeat.  
  
"Good work, Pluto," Neptune said. "A question: Is she neutralized   
  
permanently?"  
  
"No," Pluto replied.  
  
"Aye, you're right there!" fumed Freyja. "I am the most powerful   
  
wizard of this realm! I am the one who keeps the Sons of Surt at bay!   
  
I am the one who gives my people the power and the path to judge   
  
Midgard! Your skulking trickery will not long cripple the great and   
  
powerful Freyja!"  
  
"Does everybody in this dimension talk like this?" scowled Uranus.   
  
"She's giving me a headache."  
  
"Then she can menace Earth again?" Neptune asked. "You saw this?"  
  
"Merely a logical deduction," Pluto replied cryptically.   
  
"Maybe we'd better have a look in that cave of hers," Uranus   
  
suggested.   
  
Neptune nodded. Uranus forced Freyja forward, with Neptune and   
  
Pluto following. Using Freyja as a shield against booby-traps, the four   
  
gained entry into the cave. Inside they found a storehouse of potions   
  
along one wall and a treasure trove of mystical talismans along the   
  
other. There was even a section hollowed into the cave where Freyja ate   
  
and slept.  
  
"Will you barbarians let me cover myself?" fussed Freyja.  
  
"No," Neptune replied. "You're less of a threat this way."  
  
Freyja glared daggers at Neptune.  
  
"You live here?" Uranus asked.  
  
"It is private," Freyja replied. "And it taps into one of the ley   
  
lines of this dimension." She pulled away from Uranus and looked at   
  
them contemptuously. "You do not feel it, do you? This is why you of   
  
Midgard are inferior to us. This is why we deserve to sit in judgment   
  
of you. And this is why you were judged inadequate."  
  
"Our case isn't done, yet," Neptune replied. "Pluto, can you do   
  
something about this?"  
  
In response, Pluto raised her staff, pointing the ruby orb toward   
  
the potions and talismans. Panic-stricken, Freyja lunged forward, only   
  
to be restrained by Uranus.  
  
"NO!" she cried in horror. "That is a life's work! That is all I   
  
have! You cannot!"  
  
"Chronos Typhoon!" said Pluto. The potions and talismans were   
  
bathed in the ruby light from the orb. Nothing happened at first - -   
  
nothing perceptible. Then the potions began to decay and crumble into   
  
dust, followed quickly by talismans.   
  
"You will pay for this!" fumed Freyja, her face contorted in hate.   
  
"You and your kind will know war everlasting! The very hoards of Ymir's   
  
Children will pour down upon your world and turn it into a graveyard!   
  
This I swear, if it takes me a million centuries to accomplish it!"  
  
"You'd build this back again, just to come to our world?" Neptune   
  
asked. "Hasn't there been enough destruction for both sides?"  
  
"NO!" roared Freyja. "Not until I see you and your kind ground   
  
beneath the boot of Ymir himself!"  
  
Neptune looked into the blazing eyes of Freyja with dispassionate   
  
calm.  
  
"I believe you."  
  
Neptune brought up the Deep Aqua Mirror.  
  
"Marine Reflection!"  
  
A white-hot beam of energy lanced out from the mirror and struck   
  
Freyja in the chest. Freyja didn't even have time to scream before her   
  
capacity to make any part of her body function disappeared. When the   
  
beam came out the other side of her chest, it ceased. Freyja, staring   
  
at Neptune in shock, collapsed to the floor of the cave, a nine-inch   
  
diameter hole burned through her chest just about where her heart would   
  
be. Though taken by surprise by the action, Uranus and Pluto said   
  
nothing.  
  
Neptune sent the mirror away, then turned and buried her face in   
  
Sailor Uranus' chest.  
  
"You did what you had to do," Uranus whispered to her, a hand   
  
closing gently over her lover's shoulder and green hair.  
  
"I know," Neptune whispered, her voice choked with emotion. "At   
  
times like this, I hate being a senshi!"  
  
continued in chapter 12 


	12. By Dawn's Early Light

JUDGMENT DAY,  
  
Chapter 12: "By Dawn's Early Light"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Sailor Mercury read the data from her computer screen.  
  
"My long range telemetry is showing all the Frost Giants on Earth   
  
are congregating on Japan. I count thirty-eight in all. Some will   
  
arrive sooner than others, but they're all headed here."  
  
"Bring 'em on," Jupiter said resolutely. "The sooner we end this,   
  
the better."  
  
"I don't know if that's a wise strategy," Mercury warned. "We've   
  
proven, with the exception of Serenity, that we can barely take on one.   
  
If two or more happen to attack us at once, particularly if we're tired   
  
from fighting other giants, we could be overwhelmed. And the longer we   
  
take in defeating one or more, the more the odds increase against us."  
  
"So we take the fight to them?" Venus asked. "Pick them off where   
  
they are now? It's a big globe, Mercury. That's going to expend a lot   
  
of energy, because I'm guessing Serenity's going to be our only mode of   
  
transportation."  
  
"If only Pluto had stuck around," scowled Jupiter. "But she's an   
  
outer and they have to do things their way."  
  
"Jupiter, don't," Serenity moped.  
  
"Hey, you've always been our leader," Jupiter said to Serenity.   
  
"What do you think we should do?"  
  
Serenity wrung her hands. "I don't know. Both plans involve   
  
killing them."  
  
"Serenity," Mars sighed, tired and irritable, "we can't make   
  
friends with them, no matter how much you want it! Face facts!"  
  
"They're living creatures, Mars," Serenity argued gently. "They   
  
have every right to their life."  
  
"Well, so do we!" snapped Jupiter. "So does San-San, and Akiko   
  
and Ichiro! I don't even know if they're still alive, but I know they   
  
won't have a chance as long as those things walk this Earth! You've got   
  
to choose, Serenity! It's them or us! I know which side I'm going to   
  
choose."  
  
Serenity's eyes sought the ground. "You don't understand. When I   
  
had to kill the one Giant, I heard it die. I felt it die." She   
  
shuddered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I sense so many new things   
  
since I got this power! I can feel everyone's life force, all around   
  
me! And-and when that Frost Giant died - - oh, it was so horrible!"  
  
Endymion put his arms around Serenity from behind to support her,   
  
for she seemed about to collapse in a heap of sobs. A hand reached out   
  
and gently touched her arm. Serenity looked up and saw the sympathetic   
  
face of Sailor Venus.  
  
"War's never easy, for anyone," Venus said gently, an encouraging   
  
smile on her face. "I'm sure it's a lot worse for you, in ways I   
  
couldn't even begin to imagine. I know this is rough for you, a lot   
  
rougher than it is for me or for any of us, and this has literally been   
  
Hell for me. But it's got to be done. Part of life is doing things you   
  
don't want to do because they need to be done."  
  
"I-I just wish there was another way," Serenity moaned. "There   
  
has to be a way to do this without hurting anyone."  
  
"Well, that's all well and good, as far as it goes. But it takes   
  
two to have peace and they don't seem to want it." Venus put her hand   
  
on Serenity's shoulder. "You say you're in contact with the life force   
  
on Earth. Well, I'm not. So tell me - - how strong is it at the   
  
moment?"  
  
Serenity said nothing, but her expression told everyone how weak   
  
the pulse of Earth was.  
  
"We've got to bring all those lives back, Serenity," Venus told   
  
her. "They're crying out to us, because we're the only hope they've   
  
got. We have to save Earth - - and if a few eggs get broken along the   
  
way, then - - then that's the way the ball crumbles."  
  
"And she was on such a roll, too," Artemis mumbled, rolling his   
  
eyes.  
  
Though she tried to prevent it, a giggle burst from Serenity's   
  
mouth. It was all she could do to force the corners of her mouth back   
  
down.  
  
"Did I say something goofy again?" Venus asked the others, a   
  
twinkle in her eye.  
  
"All right," Serenity said, struggling to maintain her solemn   
  
tone. "We'll take them on. And we'll use your direct attack strategy,   
  
Venus."  
  
"Are you sure you want to use a plan 'she' thought up?" jabbed   
  
Mars.  
  
"Perhaps I can teleport them home instead of - - of killing them,"   
  
Serenity said. Then she felt herself being gently turned to face   
  
Endymion. Serenity looked up, surprised and intimidated by the tall   
  
dark man before her, the man who was her lifelong love and yet a perfect   
  
stranger now.  
  
"Don't do anything to jeopardize either yourself or the mission,"   
  
he warned.  
  
"Endymion," she began to plead.  
  
"Be charitable if you can," he told her, firm and yet gentle.   
  
"But if it comes down to them or us, you must be strong."  
  
Serenity looked into his eyes, searching for something that   
  
reminded her of Mamoru. Finally she looked down and nodded.  
  
Their hand clasped, Serenity and Endymion extended their free   
  
hands toward the others. The group gathered in and a bubble of silver   
  
energy formed around them all. To the wonderment of the senshi, the   
  
couple effortlessly lifted them all into the air until they hovered a   
  
thousand feet above Tokyo.  
  
"Where is the closest giant, Mercury?" Endymion asked.  
  
Mercury was about to answer, but Serenity nodded as if she'd read   
  
Mercury's mind. Mercury stared, unsettled by the experience as Serenity   
  
propelled the bubble toward Australia.   
  
It was the first visit any of them had made "down under", and no   
  
one was sure what to expect. When they arrived, it was a great deal   
  
like Tokyo: everything as far as the eye could see frozen in a thick   
  
blanket of ice and snow. The terrain was so barren and lifeless that it   
  
was hard not to be depressed by the sight. The senshi flew over miles   
  
and miles of ice, exchanging dejected glances with each other and   
  
casting worried glances at Serenity. The thought entered more than one   
  
mind, asking the question "What would break on Serenity first - - her   
  
stamina or her will?"  
  
And Serenity would return those glances sadly, as if reading the   
  
mind of the thinker each time. And each time the senshi who wondered it   
  
would look down in embarrassment.  
  
"We're approaching the next Frost Giant," Mercury announced, her   
  
eyes glued to her computer so she couldn't peek at Serenity.  
  
"I feel it," Serenity said calmly.  
  
The energy bubble landed in what had once been a huge stretch of   
  
desert. In the distance, lumbering toward them, was what could only be   
  
a Frost Giant. When the bubble dissipated, the senshi fanned out   
  
reflexively in a defensive pattern around Serenity and Endymion. But   
  
Serenity did the unexpected, lifting off into the air and heading for   
  
the approaching giant.  
  
"Serenity!" Mars called after her. When no response came, the   
  
woman ground her teeth angrily. "Be careful, you little dope."  
  
Serenity came to a stop roughly thirty feet from the Frost Giant's   
  
face. The giant stared at her, uncomprehending, then began to lift its   
  
hand toward her.  
  
"Don't be afraid," Serenity said, trying to be calming. "I won't   
  
hurt you. I want to send you home. You want that, don't you?"  
  
In response, numbing cold shot forth and struck Serenity. Taken   
  
by surprise, the future queen of Crystal Tokyo fell back and tumbled   
  
toward the Earth. As one, the senshi surged forward in a valiant   
  
attempt to get to her before she impacted. It was unnecessary, for   
  
Serenity managed to right herself in time.  
  
"You just wrote your ticket!" snarled Sailor Jupiter. "Supreme   
  
Dragon Thunder!"  
  
At once Jupiter seemed to glow white with energy. Then the   
  
electrical energy jumped up into the air above Jupiter and formed the   
  
outline of a huge dragon. The winged beast turned and lunged for the   
  
Frost Giant, spanning the distance between them in the blink of an eye.   
  
The dragon tackled the giant, throwing it to the ground with a force   
  
that shook the area. The giant stiffened as electrical energy sizzled   
  
through it. The electrical beast snapped its jaws around the throat of   
  
the ice beast and poured every erg of its energy into its prey.   
  
Fissures began to span the surface of the gigantic ice creature.   
  
Finally it could withstand the pressure no longer and exploded in a   
  
shower of ice chunks. Serenity grasped her head in pain and limped   
  
through the air back to the group.  
  
"All right, what the Hell's going on?" demanded Venus. "First   
  
Mars and now you?" Jupiter answered the demands by clutching her head   
  
and sinking to one knee. "Jupe, you going to make it?"  
  
"Don't know where that came from," gasped Jupiter, "but it took a   
  
lot out of me."  
  
Suddenly Serenity pushed next to Jupiter. With one arm around her   
  
friend's shoulders, Serenity brushed her hand along the woman's temple.  
  
"Jupiter?" gasped Serenity, her own pain shoved aside. "Please be   
  
all right!"  
  
As if her wish translated into fact, Serenity saw Jupiter relax   
  
visibly. Her lips curled into a small smile and a pleasant sigh escaped   
  
her mouth. Jupiter swallowed and opened her eyes.  
  
"I feel so much stronger," Jupiter remarked. "Did you do that?"  
  
"I guess," Serenity shrugged.   
  
"Perhaps Serenity and Endymion weren't the only ones who changed   
  
during hibernation," suggested Artemis.   
  
"And note the similarity of the attacks," Luna added, "and how   
  
much it took out of them. I don't think there's any doubt about it,   
  
Artemis. They've entered 'Dragon Phase'."  
  
"Dragon Phase?" asked Mercury.  
  
"Once a senshi reaches a certain level of maturity, she can, in   
  
times of great anger or desperation, summon all her power in a single   
  
burst," explained Luna. "This burst takes the form of a dragon. As you   
  
can see, it's quite formidable. Unfortunately it usually takes the   
  
senshi a while to regenerate her power. It's basically an all or   
  
nothing gambit."  
  
"You shouldn't have done it, Jupiter," clucked Serenity. "I would   
  
have been all right."  
  
"It did the job," Jupiter replied.  
  
"Yes, but now we're down two senshi," Mercury advised. "At this   
  
rate, we're going to be out-numbered very quickly."  
  
"Then I'll handle them from here on," Serenity declared.   
  
"Be careful, Serenity," warned Luna. "Your power isn't unlimited,   
  
either."  
  
"Where's the next Frost Giant?" Serenity asked.  
  
Mercury consulted her computer. "The sub-continent of India."  
  
Instantly the bubble formed around them and they were off. In   
  
India, they found much the same as they found elsewhere. All was in   
  
ruin and covered with ice. Mercury in particular cringed at the sight   
  
of the famous Taj Mahal broken and in ruins. They found the next Frost   
  
Giant lumbering across the mountains in northeast India. Serenity set   
  
her senshi down and flew up to the giant.  
  
"Please stop," she appealed to the monster. "Hasn't there been   
  
enough destruction?"  
  
The giant raised his hand to her.  
  
"Look out, Serenity!" yelled Mercury and Venus, lurching forward   
  
to use their power to defend her.  
  
"Stay back!" Serenity called, even as the burst of numbing cold   
  
passed harmlessly around her. "I'm ready for it this time." She turned   
  
back to the Frost Giant. "You leave me no choice."  
  
Cupping her hands before her, Serenity began to take on a silvery   
  
glow. Uncomprehending, the giant continued to batter Serenity with cold   
  
waves. It did nothing to dim the glow. Serenity seemed to reach an   
  
apex, and then the glow shot out and enveloped the Frost Giant. The   
  
giant recoiled and tried to pull away from Serenity.  
  
"Don't fight me, please!" begged Serenity. "I only want to send   
  
you home!"  
  
The giant continued to struggle to break from the silver energy.   
  
As it thrashed around, its movements seemed to tug at Serenity.   
  
Valiantly she held on, trying to accomplish her task. The monster   
  
continued to fight her.  
  
"It's resisting being sent back," Endymion announced, feeling what   
  
Serenity felt through their connection.  
  
"Single-mindedly trying to accomplish its goal no matter what,"   
  
Artemis added.  
  
"Sounds like some of the guys I used to date," scowled Venus.   
  
"Maybe if I could knock it out with a shock blast . . .?"  
  
"No," advised Endymion. "You'd never penetrate her energy."  
  
The Frost Giant's struggles became wilder. Serenity found it   
  
harder and harder to hold on as she tried to force the being through the   
  
warp to Knorr she created. But she didn't let up. She was determined   
  
to see it through to the other side.  
  
And, since one force wouldn't yield, the other had to. At once,   
  
the Frost Giant tore itself apart, shattering into misshapen chunks of   
  
lifeless ice. Serenity clutched her head as if knifed through the   
  
brain, then slowly drifted back to Earth.  
  
"Why?" Serenity asked numbly. "Why wouldn't it let me help?"  
  
Mercury took her hands. "It didn't want your help. You can't   
  
force someone to let you help them. There are some creatures, just like   
  
there are some people, who refuse to allow themselves to be helped.   
  
Whether it's because of pride or ignorance, faith or fantasy, some   
  
people won't be helped."  
  
Serenity looked down, dejected.  
  
"Unfortunately, that only leaves you with two choices now,"   
  
Mercury continued. "Logically, you can either give in to them or   
  
destroy them."   
  
Serenity kept her head down. She seemed to weigh things silently.  
  
"Give me your hands," Serenity requested.  
  
And her senshi, her friends and trusting companions, complied   
  
without even a question. Their hands folded one atop another. Serenity   
  
folded hers atop theirs. Instantly everyone felt a charge pass through   
  
her hands. Serenity closed her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered.  
  
And a bolt of silver lightning leaped from Serenity's body. It   
  
sped through the air on a northeasterly course toward Russia. A Frost   
  
Giant, trekking across the vast Russian plains, turned toward the   
  
approaching bolt. It had a moment to comprehend what it was before the   
  
bolt tore through the giant like a bullet through an apple. Unhampered   
  
and undimmed by its encounter with the giant, the bolt altered course   
  
and headed for central Europe. It didn't slow until two Frost Giant's   
  
remains lay beneath it, then altered its course again for northern   
  
Africa.  
  
Like a crazed pinball, the bolt of silver energy sped across the   
  
globe. It would seek out the nearest Frost Giant and speed through its   
  
icy mass like a missile, then seek out the next giant without a single   
  
second spent in remorse over the last. More fell in Africa, then the   
  
bolt burst across the southern Atlantic to South America. As it sped   
  
toward the Giant in Peru, the icy monster seemed ready for it, as if it   
  
heard the death throws of its brothers. The Frost Giant raised its   
  
hands and threw its powerful cold at the energy. However, the cold only   
  
seemed to make the energy move faster. It obliterated the giant, the   
  
huge monster flung to pieces before it even realized it was dead. In   
  
rapid-fire succession, more giants were smashed. Their resistance was   
  
of no consequence.  
  
The bolt tore up the continents of the Americas, jumping from   
  
Frost Giant to Frost Giant with deadly consequences. Only after every   
  
Frost Giant had been obliterated from the seven continents and all   
  
smaller land masses, the bolt shot back to India. Seconds had passed,   
  
so scant a time that the senshi still held hands and wondered about the   
  
jolt that had passed through them. They watched Serenity stiffen as the   
  
bolt entered her body. Another charge passed through them all. Then   
  
Serenity sank to her knees and began weeping. By her side in an   
  
instant, as he would always be, was Endymion.  
  
"Serenity," Endymion said gently, lovingly, "don't cry, please.   
  
It had to be done."  
  
But despite his whispered words of tender encouragement, Serenity   
  
continued to weep bitterly. It tore out the hearts of the senshi to   
  
look at it. It was like Serenity had taken the misery of the entire   
  
world into her and she cried inconsolably.  
  
  
  
"Serenity," Endymion persisted. "You did the right thing. You   
  
must accept it."  
  
"They didn't give you any choice," offered Jupiter. "You did what   
  
you had to do."  
  
Serenity shook her head, helpless to speak to defend her position.  
  
"Serenity!" Mars gasped. "Stop it, please!"  
  
"You didn't feel it - - didn't hear it!" Serenity gasped out   
  
between sobs. "Those mournful wails - - I'm going to hear them for the   
  
rest of eternity!"  
  
"Maybe," Venus suggested gently, "if you only dwell on the   
  
negative. Instead of concentrating on the wails of a few dozen Frost   
  
Giants, how about concentrating on the pleas of all the billions of   
  
people trapped and helpless. Maybe if you think about that, we can help   
  
them."  
  
"We don't think ill of you," Mercury added. "Don't think so ill   
  
of yourself. Venus is right. There are still many positives to be   
  
accomplished."  
  
Serenity didn't react, though her crying seemed to abate. Without   
  
warning, a bubble of energy formed over everyone. It lifted the group   
  
into the air, then shot forward on a northeasterly course. The frozen   
  
terrain whizzed by them, blurry and unrecognizable. The senshi looked   
  
back to their friend. Serenity continued to look down, her face hidden   
  
by her bangs, and it chilled them all. Their concern for their friend   
  
choked out all other emotions, so much so that they scarcely recognized   
  
they were back in Tokyo until the bubble had landed and dissipated.  
  
Without a word to anyone else, Serenity stood up. She took ten   
  
paces away from the group, her head bowed but her shoulders squared and   
  
resolute. Mars felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Endymion   
  
looked on with cautious concern, while the others were mystified.  
  
"Serenity?" Luna ventured, braving several steps toward her.  
  
"Don't worry," Serenity murmured flatly. "I won't be shedding   
  
anymore tears. I realize now what I am and what my responsibilities   
  
are. I'm sorry for burdening you all with my immaturity."  
  
"It was never like that," Mercury said. Her response went   
  
unheeded.  
  
Gathering her hands to her chest, Serenity closed her eyes and   
  
seemed to look inside of herself. Gradually her body began to take on a   
  
silvery glow. It grew in intensity, causing everyone to once more   
  
shield her eyes. The glow demonstrated no signs of letting up, growing   
  
more and more intense.  
  
And with the glow came feelings in them all. The joy of   
  
accomplishment, the passion of newborn love, the giddy rapture of the   
  
aftermath of childbirth, and the security of being nestled in a parent's   
  
arms all swirled around them like a strong current. Mars became so   
  
overwhelmed she began to cry. Venus stared in wonderment, while Jupiter   
  
laughed like a little girl. Even Mercury lost her scientific detachment   
  
and cooed like a baby, while the cat's purrs seemed to rumble all around   
  
them. Endymion merely smiled proudly.  
  
Artemis noticed it first. The ice and snow around Serenity and   
  
around them all was gone. As the aura from Serenity fanned out, the   
  
choking ice began to evaporate. People, animals and insects alike,   
  
frozen for two years dropped to the ground, unconscious and at life's   
  
low ebb. Then they were touched by the healing presence of Serenity.   
  
Eyes fluttered open and lungs once more took in air, while a hundred   
  
thousand million tiny voices whispered "beautiful" almost in unison.   
  
The senshi looked around. Juuban was thawed, free of ice. Its   
  
population began to wake. They looked around and found destroyed   
  
buildings and dead plants, dead animals and some dead fellow humans,   
  
victims of the onslaught of the Frost Giants. But at that moment it   
  
didn't matter. They were alive.   
  
Rising up on shaky legs, the survivors began to stumble and   
  
shuffle toward the senshi, toward the warmth and life-affirming,   
  
hope-giving glow of Serenity. She did not acknowledge them, so deep was   
  
her trance. She was too busy extending her aura over the length of   
  
Japan, over Asia, over Europe and Africa, and finally over the Americas   
  
and the world.  
  
Amid the miracle, a bubble formed. It was ruby energy and   
  
contained three travelers. When the energy dissipated, the trio looked   
  
around in confusion.  
  
"The ice is gone," Sailor Uranus whispered humbly. "Everybody's   
  
awake."  
  
"It's amazing," Sailor Neptune remarked in awe. "I didn't think   
  
even she was capable of - - of this! How?"  
  
"Because she is Serenity," Sailor Pluto replied proudly, "and she   
  
is my queen." With that, Pluto departed from Uranus and Neptune,   
  
joining senshi and human alike drawn to her glow.  
  
Finally the glow dissipated. Serenity returned to normal. She   
  
lifted her head and opened her eyes. Surrounding her were her senshi   
  
and Pluto, Endymion and the cats, and a crowd of people tattered and   
  
bruised and haggard from their ordeal, but with a light in their eyes   
  
that said they lived again. Serenity sought out Endymion and he crossed   
  
to her, gathering her up gently in his arms.  
  
"You did it," he said, the belief in her a rock-solid constant in   
  
his demeanor. "You brought everyone out of hibernation."  
  
"I'm glad," Serenity replied, burdened and yet pleased that some   
  
good had come from the ordeal.  
  
Endymion leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. And suddenly   
  
hope seemed born anew.  
  
Continued in Book Three: Resurrection 


End file.
